Percy Jackson and the Angels of Chaos
by navanluit
Summary: The classic Percy/Chaos story. What happens when Percy is betrayed? What happens when he becomes Allistar: Commander of the greatest army in existence? Give it a read! I do no own PJO.
1. End of the War

Percy Jackson and the Angels of Chaos

Planet: Angbund

Sector: 3

Date: March 4th, 2515

The Great Galactic War was coming to a close. After 2 years of brutal warfare, billions of deaths, and the destruction of four stars, six planets, and one nebula, the Angels of Chaos had pushed back the armies of Morguth to their base world of Angbund. All that remained was for the seige of the capital city Utunmo to be won.

Endless hordes of mosnsters, men, beasts, and spirits were being cut down by the glorious Angels of Chaos, the personal fighting force of the creator. The city of Utunmo was a fortress set in the side of a mountain and was presently being beseiged by Alpha, Beta, and Gamma squad while out in front was the Commander of the Angles, a young man called Allistar. Morguth himself was hiding in the lower halls of his palace, afraid to meet Allistar in battle, but he had sent his son, Saurun as one final attempt to push back the Angels and to possibly buy himself time to make an excape plan. As Saurun came forward, weilding his mighty war hammer Grund, the armies of evil drew back to the gate of Utunmo to view their masters son do battle.

"Come forward Allistar, we will decide the fate of my fathers realm here and now," said Saurun.

Save the creator himself, Allistar was the most powerful being in the universe, and everybody knew this, Saurun had simply done this as a ploy to give his father more time to plot an escape back into deep space. Allistar knew this, he also knew Saurun was laying down his life for his father, something he respected. Out of this respect, he decided to spare Saurun and simply end the war there and now.

"Saurun I have no wish to destroy you, you exhibit bravery, loyalty, and honor by fighting for your father, and for your cause. But he has been found guilty of crimes against the creator, and for that he must face justice."

With that Allistar unleashed a blast of pure energy that wiped out the remaining army and knocked Saurun unconsience. Just like that, the remaining forces of Morguth had been destroyed and the war all but won. With the army dead, and the enemies second in command out of commision, the Angels rushed into formation, awaiting order from their Commander. He looked to Slade, the leader of Alpha squad,

"Take Saurun into custody and transport him to my ship. Put him in the cell, pack up the troops and await further instructions."

"Yes sir, what about Morguth?"

"He must pay for all the death, pain, and annoyance he has caused, I will not be long. Thank you Slade."

"Of course sir, we live to serve you"

As Slade ordered the Angles back to their base of operations and then on to the transports, Allistar climbed the steps up to the palace to confront Morguth.

Inside the palace, Allistar was greeted by what he assumed to be the palace guard, a motle collection of twenty warriors dressed in simple black armor all weilding various weapons from axes, to swords, to spears and so on. Not wanting to waste any time and ready to go home, he flicked his wrist and all of their weapons disappeared. Inclining his head ever so slightly, the guard was blown back by a tidal wave of energy that effectivaly wiped out any resistance between Allistar and his prey.

Down in the lower halls, a grand staircase led down to a large open room reeking of shadow and death. Allistar assumed this is where Morguth was hiding and using his matter tracking ability, he determined that Morguth was hiding in the shadows at the back corner of the room. With a great burst of air, Allistar disappated all the shadows in the room, revealing Morguth himself in battle armor carrying a great sword and a shield both made of shadow.

"Why the theatrics brother, the false name, the war, the pathetic viel of shadows you hoped would hide you. Would it not have been easier if at the beginning of this war you would have revealed yourself by your true name: Erebus," said Allistar.

"You know promordial involvment in mortal affairs angers father, and since nobody knew it was me, I had years of fun before you found out who I was."

"Is that what this was all about, you having fun before facing justice?"

"NO! THIS WAS ABOUT GETTING THE ATTENTION OF FATHER! HE FORGOT THE REST OF US WHEN YOU CAME ALONG," bellowed the god.

"To get negative attention, you killed billions?

"Yes."

"Then you deserve to suffer forever"

And with that Erebus attacked. He came forward with the speed of a comet and brought his sword down towards Allistar but the sword simply passed through air and sliced deep into the ground where Allistar was standing. Allistar was now behind Erebus and drawing his own sword and shield. The glowing sword he brought out was called _Valurum_, meaning 'Justice' in the ancient language of the creator. It was forged out of pure energy, taken from the material of a hypernova explosion. Erebus wheeled around with a slash against Allistar but the blade was caught on Valurum. When the blades connected, sparks flew from them, the very essence and light and darkness battling with one another. Erebus withdrew and thrust forward his hand, sending a wave of dark force towards Allistar who raised his shield and the force bounced off the shield and flew back towards Erebus. Raising his own shield, it absorbed the force as Erebus stood up to re-engage Allistar. Allistar had now had enough and decided to end the fight, jumping forward putting energy into his sword, he drove it through the shield of Erebus, after which punching Erebus in the face and slicing Valurum down towards Erebus's sword. The slash cut right through the blade and Allistar withdrew quickly and covered himself with his shield waiting for the release of energy from the two weapons being broken. A huge amoung of energy exploded from each weapon. The entire room was blown apart. Huge chunks of rock fell from the upper halls into the chamber, and when the dust cleared Erebus was on the ground bleeding and gasping for air.

"Well then, what will it be? Imprissonment, public humiliation? Do you worst, I will not give you the satisfaction of begging," said the weakened primordial.

"No brother, you are sentanced to the highest level of punishment."

Fear exploded in Erebus such as he had never known as the reality of what he would be exposed to dawned on him. Only Order, the brother of Chaos had been sentanced to that fate, Erebus couldn't deserve the punishment of the universe's currupter could he?

"Erebus, primordial god of darkness, you have been found guilty of crimes against the creator, for which the punishment is eternity... in the void."

"No... please no... Chaos would not do that to his child..."

"Goodbye Erebus, you will suffur isolation and torture such as nobody save one has ever known. You will wish for death for milenium to come until your essence had faded to nothing"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO," screamed the panicking.

The eyes of Allistar began to glow purple and Erebus began to fade, not melting to dust like monsters do when they die, but like a mirrage becoming more and more dim and his essence was transported to the ancient realm of nothing. Allistar sheathed his sword, shouldered his shield, and turned to go home.


	2. Calm before the Storm

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: August 29th, 2015 (500 years earlier)

The Giant War had just ended, Gaea had been defeated, and Percy had never felt better. At the moment, Percy and Annabeth were sitting on a bench by the strawberry fields discussing their future and what they wanted to do from there on.

"Percy you and I are getting older, I'v been thinking about the future and I want to ask you something," said Annabeth.

"Oh, you've been thinking? What else is new wise girl," laughed Percy.

Annabeth punched Percy's arm but smiled as she collected her thoughts and prepared to say what had been on her mind for months.

"Percy, I think it's time to talk to our parents."

"Okay that's fine I love my dad and when your mom isn't threatening to kill me I like her too. What do we need to talk to them about?"

"Oh come on Seaweed Brain... about... us."

"I think they know you and I are together, my dad is happy that I am happy and I think your mom is okay with it, she isn't still planning on killing me for going out with you is she?"

"Percy I mean about marriage! Gods you are a kelp-for-brains sometimes."

Percy paled and his eyes widened as he proccessed this information. Sure he had thought about that, back in New Rome he had a vision for the two of them having a life there, but now that the time had come to talk about it, he wasen't sure whether he wanted to talk about it or face another army of monsters. He loved Annabeth, but he was terrible at these kind of things.

"Oh umn well... you know I am sure we can work out the gory details later, we just beat Gaea last month. We should be relaxing and hanging out for the first time ever."

"Percy neither of us are getting any younger, as it stands right now we are some of the oldest campers. By this time, most heroes know what they are going to do with their lives after camp."

"Ugh alright well, we need flowers, and food, decorations..."

"Seaweed brain there is one little thing you have to do before we can start making plans."

"Yes! You're right, I guess I will need to get a ring"

So instead of going off and spending money on a ring some random guy made, Percy decided to ask the Hephaestus kids to help him make one himself. He sorely missed Leo and wished he were back, Leo was a member of the seven heroes destined to defeat Gaea, and had sacrificed himself to defeat Gaea and had saved them all. But since he could not ask his impish friend for help, he needed the help of somebody else from cabin 7.

-Skip ahead 2 months-

The date was set. Percy had finally finished the perfect ring for Annabeth with the help of several kids from the Hephaestus cabin. It was a beautiful band made of bronze with a flowing design and a grey gemstone set in the top. Percy could not be happier, he had planned out a special night where he would take Annabeth to a fancy resturant, a walk on the beach where he would pop the question, then take her back to his mom's apartment where both their families would be waiting so they could announce the engagment.

On the morning of October 30th, (the day he would ask her), he woke up early and decided to take a walk on the beach to prepare himself for what he would do that day. As he was walking a funnel of water began to develop about thirty feet into the lake. The funnel came to shore and when the water had receded, a tall, tanned man wearing a huge smile stood before Percy.

"Good morning my son."

"Hey dad, what brings you here?"

"I just wanted to congradulate you on your proposal Perseus. It's not every day your favorite son asks a woman to be his wife you know"

"Aren't the well wishes and congratulations supposed to wait until after she says yes?"

"Well yes I suppose that is the tradition of the day, when I was young the courting of a woman was much different then it is now."

"I don't suppose being an immortal, all-powerful god who can control the ocean helped at all in that proccess?"

"Actually it did very much... oh I understand, that was sarcasm wasn't it?"

"Just a bit, that reminded me of a conversation I had with Hephaestus a long time ago, he was slow to pick up on my sarcasm too."

"As I once told the blowfish guy, your step-father, I am ancient history. Sometimes I find it challenging to conform to your current language."

"Anyway dad, was there something in specific you wanted to say?"

"Yes. Other than wishing you good luck, I have felt something and cannot put my finger on what it is. It is as if a piece of me has been exposed. I feel that you may be recieving a brother today."

"Dad you broke the oath twice?"

"Blah blah yes. Anyway, I would just like to warn you that the last time two mortal sons of mine met other than you and Tyson, you almost killed one another, do you remember?"

Of course Percy remembered. Back during their quest to Greece, the crew had come across a son of Poseidon known as the golden sword, and if Percy had not swallowed his pride and asked the wine god for help, they would have been killed.

"Just remember, and good luck again my son."

With that, Poseidon dissolved into sand that gently was blown out to sea. Percy hanging at the beach to ponder this, was broken out of his thinking trance but a scream that came from the camp borders. As he jumped up, he brought out a ballpoint pen that was actually his faithful sword that had been through so much with him. As he uncapped it, the pen elongated into an elegant Xiphos, a greek blade made from Celestial bronze that was deadly to monsters and immortals alike, Riptide it was called. Running to the camp border, he was met by a grim sight. A young man probably the same age as Percy was cowering behind a large boulder while four hellhounds were circling him ready to pounce. Percy raised Riptide and stepped into battle.

The first one that saw Percy lunged at him without a thought, Percy side-stepped and brought the sword down on the beast's neck. As the essence of the first beast returned to Tartarus, the other three were now more wary and careful. After a brief stand-off, two decided to tag team and came from both sides at Percy. Percy, arguably being one the greatest warriors alive was not deterred as he rolled forward and let the hounds smash into eachother. As they recovered from the daze, Percy took advantage and jumped forward and with a single slash, Riptide cut through the hides of both beasts. This left the last hound which had decided to finish the hunt and lunged at the boy. Right as the beast arrived, the boy seemed to find his courage and rolled out of the way. Percy, not wanting the boy to come to harm, lunged at the beast. The hellhound took a swipe at Percy but smartly kept its distance, staying out of range of Riptide. Percy dodged the swipe and looked behind to see the boy was now runnning down the hill to the big house. Sensing Percy was distracted, the hellhound lunged at him but years of training kept Percy alive as he fell backward with the beast and plunging his sword through the underside, killed the remaining hellhound.


	3. Exile

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: October 30th, 2015

Sufficiently worn out by the hellhounds, Percy made his way towards the big house to check up on the hero who had just run there. When he arrived, he saw Chiron, Annabeth, and the young man all talking.

"I'm serious, he just apppeared and brought those creepy, huge dogs with him. And when I tried to run, his dogs attacked me. I only barely killed the beasts and ran here before he was able to kill me," the young man said while clearly lying through his teeth.

Chiron got a very steely, stoic look, the kind of look he only gets when he is angry. Turning on Percy, he looked down on him with content. Before speaking, Percy was sure he could see a slight flash of purple in his eyes, but what Chiron said next made Percy forget about the strange light.

"Percy Jackson, your brother Steven here just informed me that you tried to kill him using beasts from the underworld," said Chiron.

"Chiron that is a lie, I was at the beach with my father when I heard him scream. I ran to see what it was and saw him being attacked by two hellhounds, Hades probably sent them as retribution against Poseidon for breaking the oath again."

"Percy you can be dumb sometimes, but what the hades were you thinking," said Annabeth.

Out of nowhere, a blinding flash it up the room. When the light died down, three tall men were standing there. One was stern faced with a gray beard and electric blue eyes that held anger in them. Another was pale, with jet black hair wearing an expression of pure wrath. The third was a tanned, beared man who had a somber expression. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were now standing in the big house.

"Percy Jackson, you dare accuse me of this crime? This is the second time you have accused me of a crime that I did not commit," Hades said while glowering at Percy.

"Brothers, I believe Percy should be banished for such a crime, for trying to kill this young man, and for accusing one of the big three of such a henious act," Zeus said while smiling smugly at Percy.

"Brother this is rediculous, I can vouch for my son. I was at the beach speaking with him about something private. I know my son would never try to harm anybody, and why would he try to kill his own brother," Poseidon asked.

"Perhaps the private matter you were discussing was how to dispose of your extra son before either of us found out. And somehow hateched a plan to release hellhounds to do the deed," suggested Zeus.

"Since when do I have the power to summon beings from the realm of Hades? Can Hades then summon a fish at will if I can summon hellhounds," asked Poseidon.

"It matters not Poseidon you are over-ruled. The boy will be punished. I vote exile. Hades what is your decision," asked Zeus.

"I vote exile, and his title of son of the sea god be striped from him," answered Hades.

"No! He is my son and I will not abandon him to that fate," said Poseidon.

"Brother as king of the gods, and from the majority vote of the big three, you are commanded to do this," Zeus yelled

Poseidon looked down in shame, he represented the sea, and the sea hated being told what to do, but even he could not go against the will of the big three.

"Annabeth, you cannot agree with this, we were about to be engaged," Percy pleaded.

"You are not the Percy I know and love, perhaps you were always false, either way we are finished. You can take you ring and throw it off a cliff for all I care," replied Annabeth.

There was that strange purple glow in her eyes just like Chiron, but again the next thing said made Percy forget the light.

"Percy I do not want to do this, but I will not go against my brothers. I Poseidon, lord of the seas, hereby strip you of you title of son of the sea god and... disown you," said Poseidon, his voice cracking as he said the last part.

Percy could not believe what he was hearing, his father had disowned him, his love had left him, his mentor had abandoned him, and the cause of it was sitting in the shadows smirking like this was his plan all along.

"Perseus Jackson you are banished. May you find death soon and come into the hands of Hades. Goodbye spawn of my brother," said Zeus.

With another flash of light, Percy was no longer at the big house but in a busy New York street. With realization, he knew that if he went back to camp half blood, he would be killed.

The only thing he thought of was going to visit his mother. So he caught a cab, told some sob story to the driver because he had no money, and sat in the car and cried on the way to his mothers apartment.

Back at camp half blood, the goddess Hecate snuck away from the big house to flash back to Olympus. Percy had offended her during the giant war, fought against him in the Titan war, and now by magically controlling the actions of Annabeth and Chiron, had taken her revenge of Percy. Zeus and Hades were all too willing to get rid of the upstart. Only now did Chiron and Annabeth come to their senses, and now realized what they had done.

-Line break-

The cab Percy was taking was about a minute from his apartment, when he saw the smoke. A dread settled in his stomach and visions of Nico's mother came to him. When the cab turned the corner, his worst fear was realized. The building his parents lived in was on fire while firefighters tried to put it out. Percy jumped out of the car and ran to the truck where a few men were huddled around several white sheets on the ground. Percy could barely feel his legs as he walked up to them.

"Son you need to stay back, this fire is kicking our butts and its dangerous here," shouted the fire chief.

Barely getting the words out. Percy said,

"My mom, step-dad, and baby sister live in that building, have you found them?"

The fire chief looked at his luetenuit as he grimly took Percy by the shoulder and led him over to the sheets on the ground. He said,

"I need you to confirm that this is your family for the police, I understand they may be... different, but I need you to focus and tell me if it is them. Can you do that?"

"No." Percy thought but slowly nodded his head. The chief knelt down and lifted the sheet off one of the bodies.

The moment he saw the badly burned body of his mother he vomited all over the pavement.

Knowing his family was dead, he struggled to get off the ground. When he did he saw a sight he could not believe at first, thunder clouds had gathered over the aparrtment and were just starting to dissapate.

-Skip ahead two weeks-

Percy knew he was about to die. For two weeks now he had fought tooth and nail to stay alive, but his strength was gone and fresh monsters most likely released from Hades were stalking him down an alleyway. Riptide had been bent badly during a fight with a giant, so he weilded a bent, blunt blade to fend off monsters that were getting increasinly harder to kill. Pushed up against a corner, his sword rendered useless since he had not the strength left to lift it, the monsters closed in for the kill of the most famous demi-god of all time. Percy closed his eyes and waited for death to come, and for the real torture to then begin down in the underworld thereafter.


	4. Meeting the Creator

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: November 15th, 2015

After standing there leaning against an alley wall for much longer they he expected, Percy opened his eyes expecting to see monsters with mocking expressions just waiting for him to open his eyes so they could watch the light leave them as he died. What he saw was a far different sight. The monsters were gone, no dust, no trace that there were ever monsters there in the first place. What shocked him more was that there was a boy who looked to be around six years old standing there in the alley smiling at Percy.

"Perseus I am so proud of you," said the little boy with a little boy voice. Yet the voice sounded so articulate and wise it was like you put Athena in a little boy form and she spoke to you.

"You alone are the creation that most resembles me. You are absolutely golden and I could not be more proud to call you mine," said the little boy. Percy replied,

"Look kid I don't know what your parents have been feeding you, but you need to get out of here, there are bad things that might hurt you and I don't want that."

The litle boy laughed and it was the single happiest sound Percy had ever heard. Not the sounds of Annabeth laughing, or his father complementing him, not even the sound of the ocean on a calm summer day. It filled Percy with hope so much so that he dropped his sword and forgot about any problems he might have been facing. The little boy spoke again,

"My dear boy, I have always loved you, since the moment you were born I knew you would be special. You have a heart as big as the world, more compassion then any being I have created, and more courage than I would ever have if I were in your shoes. You have saved my creation countless times, would die a thousand deaths to save a friend, and yet the very people you would die to protect have forgotten you."

Percy, not used to any sort of praise, looked down in embarrassment.

"And humble too," said the weird little boy.

A thought suddenly came to Percy, he said,

"Hold on, your creation? Who are you? Are you God? Because if you are I know I have kind of skipped out on church I know, but I have been a bit busy trying to stay alive?

Again the boy laughed and Percy actually listened to it this time. It was like all the happiness in the world was wrapped in this boys laugh. The boy replied,

"I am not the christian God if that is what you mean. I know not of Him or anything that came before me, He very well may exist and have made me, but other than that I know nothing of anything before me. I suppose you are moderately confused right about now."

"Oh you know, monsters disappearing, a little boy with an amazing laugh telling me he made me. Just a little confused."

The boy smiled again and before Percy's eyes transformed into a man standing at least seven feet tall. It was like looking into the sky on a stary night. His clothes, skin, and eyes were the blackest black Percy had ever seen. But in the blackness there were blinding lights that looked like stars. He could see miniature spirals that looked like galaxies floating around his robe and he thought he saw a mini star exploding on his left pant leg.

Percy immediately backed up. He had looked at scary things before. He saw the face of Typhon, looked at the vortex that was the face of Tartarus, and had seen the king of the giants in all his glory. But this man scared him in a different way. It was not an evil fear as with the others, but a mysterious fear. He felt like his eyes were burning and had to look away after only seeing him for a few moments. Somehow the walls around Percy seemed to be having a similar problem, as Percy watched, the paint on the walls began to run down the wall and the wall seemed alive almost as it began to deteriorate and decay. As soon as Percy thought he was going to burn away from the sheer power of the man, the light died and the walls were back to normal.

He turned back to the man and saw instead a young woman probably around twenty five. She was gorgeous, long jet black hair drapped down her slender back. A pale, perfect face that held the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Aphrodite herself was hideous compared to this woman. Percy couldn't help it, he blushed and looked down again, completely overwhelmed by this being who went from a laughing little boy, to a blinding yet consumingly dark man, to a breath takingly gorgeous woman. Then within a moment the woman was gone, replaced with a young man with black hair, sea green eyes, and a crooked smile. Percy was staring at a mirror image of himself except not dirty, beaten up, and starving.

"I can tell you are overwhelmed by me Percy. I have shown you but the smallest fraction of my true being. Had I shown my true form, the universe itself would collapse, unable to handle me. I am everything, and I am nothing. Do you now know who I am," asked the being.

Percy racked his brain, he had a name but was afraid to speak it. He had looked at a manifestation of this being before. At the bottom of Tartarus there is a void, a dark chasm that Percy had almost fallen into. Scared but not wanting to ignore the being's request, he spoke the word he had never spoken before,

"You are the creator, you are Chaos."

The mirror Percy smiled and nodded slowly and said,

"I am indeed Chaos. And I have come to make you an offer dear Percy."

"What could the creator want with me? I am merely an outcast demi-god," said Percy.

Chaos smiled sadly and said,

"If It did not violate my own ancient laws, I would make every being that has ever harmed you fade. Percy I know of every living being in the universe. Trillion and trillions of souls, and not one can compare to you. There is none other that I would more happily make this offer to."

"But what about the monsters? I assume that was you who sent them back to Tartarus," questioned Percy.

"Oh my dear boy I did not send them to Tartarus I sent them to the void, and I only did that because I can destroy using my powers only to save somebody, but not for any other reason."

"Wait the void? The chasm I almost fell into at the bottom of Tartarus," asked Percy.

"No that was merely a portal to the void, but we will speak of that later if you accept my offer. Which I will make to you now. Percy, will you come with me? Will you leave earth and come to my home world of Genesis and become what you were born to be," asked Chaos.

Percy replied,

"What was I born to be?"

Chaos smiled and answered,

"The Prince of All, the heir to All, my son, and the Commander of the Angels of Chaos."

"I will come with you," Percy said without a moments pause.

Chaos smiled and turned around to the alley. He raised his hand and a small black dot appeared out of nowhere, hovering five feet off the ground. As Percy watched, the dot grew into a round, black portal about 10 feet in diameter. Chaos walked calmly up to it, turned to Percy and gestured for him to go first.

Percy took one last look around the alley and figured it would be the last time he saw anything of earth ever again. Then without hesitation he walked up to the portal, walked past the Percy-Chaos, and stepped into his destiny.


	5. Creation

Planet: Realm of Creation

Sector: 0

Date: November 15th, 2015

As Percy stepped through the portal, he was blinded by the brightest light he had ever seen. It was beyond the light a god gave off when they revealed their true form. Beyond looking at the sun on a bright day, and it was the whitest, most pure light. Percy immediately shielded his eyes and crouched down, overwhelmed by the intense glow. Along with the blinding light, there was also a physical aura about the air. It was as if you being slowly rotated over a flame but was not painful. Also there was a ringing sound that sounded like church bells the size of Manhattan ringing.

"What's going on," yelled Percy.

All of a sudden, the sound stopped. The light and aura remained but it was as if the volume had been turned down.

"This is the realm of creation Percy. Everything that is, ever was, and ever will be was once here. Millions of years ago part of my essence emerged from this place not knowing who I was or where I was. I can only guess that this has either always been, or somebody made this and in turn made me. When I made the universe, I drew all the matter and energy from this realm. So you see in a way I am not the creator, merely the one who transferred all of this into something that could support life. When I make planets, I draw matter and energy from here. It never changes and if I were not here, you would melt into the fabric of the place and cease to exist as anything but energy."

Just like the sound had quickly lessened, the aura was beginning to wane. Percy felt alive again, when they first came here he thought he would dissolve, but now he felt normal almost. The light then started to die down until it was no brighter than the sun on a cloudy day. Percy asked,

"Chaos, is it dying, why is it lessening of light, feel, and sound?"

Chaos chuckled and said,

"It isn't Percy, you are evolving. Becoming like me. In a few moments your power will be second only to my own."

"WHAT," shouted Percy? As a son of the big three he was powerful, but this went beyond Poseidon, beyond Kronos, even beyond Gaea. Percy felt unworthy of this power.

"Chaos I don't deserve this at all. Why are you giving me this?"

"I have already told you, you are the only being in existence worthy of this power,"

After a few more moments, Percy could open his eyes, and what he saw blew his mind. It was an open area with no visible boundaries with orbs floating everywhere glowing like suns. There must have been millions of them. Each one had a different color to it which Percy wasn't sure how because he had only seen ten or so colors. Countless shades of red, blue, green, orange, purple, black, white, brown, yellow, and gray but others he had no words to describe them with. He picked a sea green orb and asked,

"Chaos, what are these things?"

"They are the Orbs of Existence, at least that's what I call them. In every orb contains the endless energy of each aspect of existence. The one you have now just so happens to be the Orb of Sea, the source of power for any being that can control liquid. You have never known this, but you, your father, Oceanus, Hydros, and any other water controlling being draws the ability to control water from this orb."

Percy looked around and saw orbs he guessed were for things like lightning, air, storms, pain, love, and so on.

"Now that you have been exposed to the realm of Creation and evolved from it, you have free reign over all its power. You can control anything in creation. The only limitation, you can only control one aspect at a time. Trust me you don't want to feel what it's like to morph two aspects of creation. It took 500000 years of agonizing effort to separate the two I used together."

Percy asked,

"What were you trying to do, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I was making Chronos, my first child. I needed to create time before anything so I could measure my progress and pace myself. So I created time and called it Chronos. So you see, my primordial children are literal manifestations of existence and they chose a gender and appearance. They are not graphic representations of existence like your Greek gods."

"We have spent sufficient time here for you to have gained your power over creation. Now it is time to visit the other half of me. I must warn you, the other side will test you. You may choose to turn back, but if you do you will only have half the power you could have if you proceed."

"Should I be afraid," asked Percy.

Chaos looked him dead in the eye, sea green eyes to sea green eyes, the Chaos eyes were deadly serious and he said,

"Yes. Will you proceed or be satisfied with only creation power? I will be satisfied either way."

After a few moment of thought Percy replied,

"I've made it this far, might as well go all the way."

Chaos smiled and nodded his head. Again Chaos made a portal the same way he had before. Percy readied himself and stepped inside.


	6. Void

Planet: The Void

Sector: 0

Date: November 15th, 2015

Darkness. No not darkness, absence was a better word for it. One moment Percy was in a beautiful realm of light and colors, the next there was nothing. No light, no sound just absence. The void was everything the realm of creation was not. Creation was bright, loud, and the aura seemed to be sinking into your skin, seemed like it was pressing against you. The void was black, just black as in Percy could see nothing. What was just as bad was there was literally no sound. Zero sound and zero light. The worst part however was that Percy felt like every atom of his body was being stretched apart violently. He didn't know how he was staying whole. He wanted to die. He couldn't think, all he knew was pain and fear.

After what seemed like an eternity, Percy could think again. First it was just bewilderment from the pain, then he began to count away the seconds. After 40,251 seconds, the pain stopped suddenly. All he could comprehend was the absence of pain. The darkness and silence didn't change, but he now just felt like he was in a very dark, very quiet place. At this moment he could feel his body again.

Out of nowhere he could see light in the distance, then he heard the voice of Chaos,

"Come back Percy that is enough."

Percy didn't know what that meant. But he knew he wanted nothing more than to leave this place and return to Chaos. He felt a tugging sensation in his gut, similar to when he controlled water. Then with a swish sound, he was sitting in a throne, looking down at what looked like a map of the universe. He looked around and saw Chaos looking the way he did back in the alley way. He was seven feet tall again and had the universe in his body and clothes again. Percy waited for the pain that came with looking at the creator in his universe form, but it never came. Percy found he could look at Chaos now as simply as he could look at anything else. Percy asked,

"What the heck was that Chaos? That was worse then what I saw down in Tartarus."

"Remember what I said in the alley? That was merely a portal to the void, what you just experienced with the actual void. What you just experienced is something only one other being has every experience, and he is there now. Order, my evil brother is forever trapped there, suffering for eternity for what he did to my creation."

"You sent somebody there as a punishment? Nobody deserves that!"

Chaos smiled at Percy's outburst. In the back of his mind, Chaos knew Percy hadn't tried to just destroy half the universe, Percy was angry and could not control his powers yet. Chaos fixed it with a thought and decided not to tell Percy what he had just accidently done, training was soon to come.

"My dear boy, Order is everything evil about existence. I find it ironic that people call me Chaos and him Order. His original name Grothmog, while mine was Fingolfin. I represent order and he represents chaos, yet we have been called the very opposite of what we represent. Imagine all the pain, suffering, death, and guilt everybody who has ever lived had felt, and know it is because of Order. I think you will find that the void is the only worth punishment for one such as him."

"Alright so let me get this straight, I draw power form creation?"

"Yes you do."

"So if creation is all about light, do people like Hades and Tartarus draw power from the void since it is so dark?"

"No Percy none but you and I may draw power from the void. They draw power from darkness, but even though darkness is the absence of light, it is still a part of creation. Darkness and the void are totally different. Imagine the color dark brown representing darkness, while pure black representing the void." Chaos continued,

"Now enough about the void and darkness, time for you to begin your life here on Genesis. The army is without a leader as of now, but you will fill that role. There are six squads of my army, which is called the Angels of Chaos. Each squad represents the six fundamental aspects of creation: water, fire, air, earth, life, and death. You will now choose who will lead each squad and from there train with them."

Percy thought for a while, and after a few moments of thought had prepared his squad leaders.

"I choose Luke, son of Hermes, Silena, daughter of Aphrodite, Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus, Leo, son of Hephaestus, and Calypso, daughter of Atlas. Please choose yourself the last one for those are the only ones I wish to be at my side."

"Before I bring them here, you must choose a name that will be what the Angels call you."

Walking to the window, Percy thought about a name. He thought about staying Percy but wanted to forget that life, so deciding on a name her turned to Chaos and said,

"Allistar."


	7. Going home

Planet: Genesis

Sector: 0

Date: March 5th, 2515

Allistar had just arrived back on Genesis from his successful mission to end the Great Galactic War. The next day there would be a feast but for today, Allistar wanted to relax. Walking through the Palace of Chaos, he received a holo message in his helmet. He saw Chaos in universe form (the seven foot tall light/dark man) sitting on his throne with the leaders of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma squad sitting in their various thrones around his. The throne directly to the right of Chaos was empty because that was Allistar's throne.

"Allistar, at your convenience please come to the throne room, I wish to see and speak with you," said Chaos.

"Of course Lord Chaos, I will be there soon."

"Allistar for the billionth time don't call me Lord, you are my son not my servant."

Allistar smiled under his helmet and replied,

"Yes father, I will arrive shortly."

After walking up the seven levels, passing through various security points, Allistar came at last to the throne room, the seat of power of the creator. He pushed the doors open and walked down a pathway surrounded by open space. The doors are actually a portal to an island in open space, this is for cosmetic purposes. After walking half a mile, he walked into an enormous chamber with twelve thrones arranged in a U formation. These thrones were for the creator, the commander of the Angels, the leaders of the Angel squads, and the four primordials who still aligned themselves with their father. These included Aether (Light), Hemera (Day), Ananke (Compulsion), and Chronos (Time). The other primordials had either faded or were agents of evil, no longer tied to Chaos. The primordials were not present, only during times of immortal war and annual council meetings did they visit Genesis.

"Allistar my son have I have missed you. Two years is a long time to be gone," said Chaos.

Allistar replied,

"Yes father, I apologize for taking so long but I had to observe the ancient laws, and Erebus had passed his own essence into his armies. The fact that he killed Nyx and Eros and stole their power made him even more powerful."

"Yes, again I lose children to madness and evil. The plague of my brother remains, no matter how many wars we win, no matter how much blood is spilt, the corruption of Order remains, and evil endures," Chaos said while looking down in dismay. "I love my creation, but this is not what I wished for it. I did not wish for innocents to suffer, and because my brother brought evil into this universe, until the day I fade or whatever created me calls me home, I will be forced to endure the corruption of my creation."

Allistar, feeling compassion for his father replied,

"The war against evil is one that cannot be won, evil changes form as the old form dies, but it is a fight we can never stop fighting. Lest we all succumb to madness and death."

Chaos looked up and smiled at Allistar,

"My son you rekindle hope in me when I need it. I despair and you comfort me. My love for you has grown since that day I found you in the alley, and for that reason it burdens me to say what I must tell you."

Allistar suddenly worried for his father walked up to Chaos and knelt at his throne and said,

"What is it father, please say not that your time has come."

"No son, I imagine I have a little longer before I pass on. But I must ask you to absolve the promise I made to you all those years ago. I must ask you to save earth once again."

Allistar knew what this meant, it meant he was going back. He was going back to that place that he loved so much but in his time of need had abandoned him. But he knew it was his duty to save those who could not save themselves. It was his duty to defeat evil and preserve good. So he looked up and replied,

"Father If I pushes back the forces of evil, and if it is your will, I will happily go back and save them once again."

Chaos expected anger, resentment, and possible a few galaxies to be blown up, but when he heard these words, he was shocked to say the least. But this was Allistar, the symbol of good, loyalty, and courage.

"My dear son, when I fade, the universe will be a much better place with you ruling it. I only wish our places would have been switched at the beginning, then Order might not have corrupted all, and life would peaceful and simple, the way I designed it to be."

Allistar replied.

"You honor me father, when do I leave and who shall accompany me?"

"You must leave tomorrow, I foresee an attack on the camp tomorrow around noon. And as far as companions, I imagine you will need only the squad leaders and yourself. You have all grown in power and love. But I wish you to take the army, I want the camp trained properly so that the next time evil knocks on the door, they will be able to defend themselves without our aid."

"Yes father, we will make our preparations and depart right away," replied Allistar.

As Allistar and the squad leaders walked out of the throne room, they walked to the living chambers on the top level, just one level above the throne room. They came into a circular chamber that's form was dependent on what the leaders of the Angels needed it for. Today they just wanted a place to sit and talk, so it was a comfortable lounge with arm chairs, couches, a fully stocked fridge, and a round table with drawing paper for maps and plans.

"Alright enough with the helmets I want to see your faces," said Slade, leader of Squad Alpha.

"Agreed," said Atlan, leader of Epsilon squad.

So each of the squad leaders and Allistar pressed a button on their wrists armor, contracting the armor back to wrist mode. There, as If the 500 years had not passed, were some of Camp Half Blood's most famous heroes. Percy, son of Poseidon, Luke, son of Hermes. Leo, son of Hephaestus. Beckendorf, son of Hephaestus. And Silena, daughter of Aphrodite. With them were two other young woman, Aurora (OC), and Calypso, daughter of Atlas. Together, they made up the officers of the Angels of Chaos. Luke the leader of Alpha. Aurora leader of Beta. Leo leader of Gamma. Calypso leader of Epsilon. Beckendorf leader of Eta. Silena leader of Zeta.

"Percy, how do you feel about this, we all have history on earth but you alone have true horrors to return to. You will command us on our behavior down there and your decisions will be our fate. You have my complete trust, but I need to know you do not mean to take revenge" said Calypso.

Percy was deep in thought, he knew some of the ones who betrayed him were long dead: Nico, Jason, her… But the others, the gods and Chiron we still there. And he would have to face them. He was not afraid of them obviously, his power was second only to Chaos. But he doubted his ability to remain level headed. If they provoked him, it would take an act of Chaos to keep them alive. Almost like she knew what he was thinking, Calypso continued,

"Percy Chaos is sending us down there to protect them. As much as Chaos loves you, he would be highly offended if you killed any of them. You know the value he places on life."

"I know that Calypso and you are right, I must not harm any of them in any way. And despite their betrayal. I could not actually bring myself to kill them," Percy answered.

"Perce, you are our leader, we will follow you no matter your decision," said Luke, whose devotion to Percy had grown to rival his devotion to Chaos.

Calypso looked irritably at Luke, this was not helping, so she continued,

"What we need to discuss right now is if we plan on revealing our identities. I vote that we should. They will trust us so much more if we are not hiding our faces behind masks."

"I agree," offered Aurora.

"As do I," said Beckendorf.

The remaining leaders were not so quick to make their decision. When it came to matters concerning the Angels, Percy had the final say but took the opinions of the leaders very seriously.

"Percy is our leader and he will make the decision, we are honor bound as friends and as lower ranking officers to obey his orders. He is the one who will have to deal with others knowing his identity, for us it will be a non-issue," said Luke.

"I agree, let Percy make the decision," Silena said.

"Look, I faced death with the gods. I fought side by side with them, and Percy did too. And for the gods to turn their backs on him after he helped save them disgusts me. I don't think they don't deserve to know our identities. But I will follow your command either way Percy," said little Leo.

This was the order of most decision making among the leader of the Angels. Calypso was usually the first to share her opinion. Luke stood by Percy no matter the decision or situation. Beckendorf, Aurora, Leo, and Silena usually did not care either way as long as Percy was making the decision. Of course none of the voting mattered, it was only to council Percy on the final decision. Taking their points into consideration he made a decision,

"To gain their trust, you six will reveal your identities upon arrival. Whether or not I will remains to be seen and I will make that decision once I gather more information on who is still alive and their prerogative towards me. So they do not assume I am the commander, we will make up a story saying that I was an Angel, but died years ago. They will not link me to the commander."

Leo was clearly not happy but he respected Percy and his decision. The other leaders were satisfied with it. The seven of them were the best of friends, but Percy was the Commander, and the Commander was obeyed without question.

The next morning at 0600, four black ships carrying the Angels of Chaos left the Genesis spaceport and made its way into deep space. The journey there would take two hours. Each Angel knew the mission, each Angel was ready, and Percy was ready too.


	8. Beginning of the War

Planet: Deep Space (Earth ETA: 1 hour)

Sector: 1

Date: March 6th, 2515

As the Angelic Ships of Chaos flew through deep space faster than the speed of light, Allistar activated the holo communicator which was linked to the throne room of Chaos and the three other ships carrying the Angels. An image of Chaos on his throne appeared and Allistar, the leaders, and all the Angels watching from their respective ships went silent, waiting for their briefing. Chaos spoke,

"My dear Angels, you all know the mission. Earth has come under attack once again, a war on this scale has not happened to earth since the second Giant War. Evil is brewing, millions of monsters have found their way to the mortal world, and I sense several titans. The identity of the leader of this army is hidden to me, although I can tell you that I sense old blood, I imagine another child of mine has fallen into darkness. The Primary objective: defend earth and defeat the army of evil that threatens them. The Secondary objective: gather all possible immortals, demi-gods, and nature spirits that still align themselves with good, and train them. Teach them to defend themselves against armies such as these so that during future attacks we do not have to continue doing this. There will be bloodshed on a massive scale, I regret to say that some of you will not come home. But you have sworn an oath to Lord and Land, now fulfil them all as you help turn the tide, and strike a blow against madness."

Allistar could feel the excitement buzzing from the leaders and the Angels, they were too disciplined to show any emotion while being directed by a superior, but every single Angel had a story. Every Angel longed for the defeat of evil and the triumph of good. They were ready to fight, to die even if that meant the destruction of evil. Allistar himself could not suppress the feeling of anticipation and excitement that could only come from combat. The communicator in the ships now deactivated, the Angels made their final preparations and waited for war…

-On Earth the day before-

-Annabeth POV-

Annabeth Chase, immortal goddess and wartime advisor to Athena, the goddess of Wisdom was now over 500 years old. And now it seemed those 500 years were all that she was going to be able to enjoy. They had heard word from Olympus that a great host was preparing for war. This was nothing new but what was new was that this time the Olympians could not win. If reports were correct, no less two millions monsters, six titans, and possibly even a primordial were now fixed on destroying Olympus and all who would defend it.

In truth, Annabeth did not really mind much. Ever since the day that infernal Hecate, the miserable excuse of a goddess had decided to play her joke, Annabeth had all but lost to will to live. She had prepared for it since the end of the titan war, and nobody saw it coming.

Hecate, the goddess of magic had woven a spell over Hades, Zeus, myself, Chiron, and the rest of the people Percy was closest to. How was nobody aware she had that kind of power, how did mother not know? She had come across that spawn of Poseidon Stephen years ago and hatched a plan to make sure he would be the hero. So the day that… he was exiled, she had possessed us and because of that, he was blamed for the attack on Stephen. The only good that came out of that situation was that Stephen and Hecate were banished to Tartarus forever. Some daughter of hers took over the role of goddess of magic.

Percy…. Seaweed brain had left thinking that I hated him. Gods I miss him. You'd think that after 500 years that I would have moved on, but it seems that immortality was more a curse then a blessing. I must have had the worst immortal life ever. Half of you very being violently ripped away all because of two jealous fools. Living in depression and grief for five centuries, and now standing upon the brink of death with no way to save anyone. When… he was banished and the spell of Hecate lifted, the gods tried to create a memorial to Percy, and had made all of his friends immortal, of course including myself. They meant for it to be an honor to glorify Percy and to show that even in exile he could somehow defend Olympus. What a joke, we were miserable. Camp continued, new heroes came, fought, and died, but we withered. They meant us to inspire people through the actions of Percy. But we are not an inspiration, we are merely an immortal reminder of what has been lost. A daily tribute to how the savior of Olympus, the one who saved us all, my love, was gone. The fates are cruel, I know that now more than ever.

There is nothing, nothing but pain from him being gone. Everywhere I look I see him. I stand here looking out at the sea and I smell him, I hear him, I see him. I spend more time on random beaches across the world searching for pieces of him than I do anywhere else. Mother disapproves. She says I need to move on, and I know I should. I just feel frozen, broken, half formed. Is this what it feels like to fade? Is this what Pan felt as he lay there barely alive all those years ago in the labyrinth? When everything you stood for, everything you held dear is gone. When he left I forgot what it meant to be happy, what it meant to feel. Gods Percy I miss you.

-The next day-

After going through the events of that cursed day countless times, I looked down at my watch and noticed it is time to get ready for the first attack. Reports said that a massive army was moving north and would reach the camp by noon today. That being only an hour away, I decided it was time for me to go back to camp.

Flashing to the porch of the big house, I changed my expression from that of a broken shell of a woman to a brave warrior that people would expect of a daughter of Athena. Upon arrival I notice Nico, Jason, Chrion, and Clarisse all standing around a round table staring at a map of the camp.

"Nico I need you to set up defenses here, here, and here. Use skeletal warriors, ghosts, anything you can to hold that flank. Jason I need you here, you've got the lightning and the wind. Use Tempest and see if you can summon any more wind spirits. These flanks must hold if we are to survive," said Chiron.

After Jason and Nico walked away to their respective defensive positions, I walked up to Chiron to receive my instructions. Chiron had taken the exile of Percy badly. Camp was never the same. Activities continued, quests were still offered every now and then, but there was no life in it. Sing-alongs at the campfire had turned into story-time about Percy and his many adventures. The Oracle Rachel had been away at the time of his banishment and upon her being told what had happened she left the camp. We see her from time to time but since we don't have prophecies, heroes go on quests blind now with no knowledge of what to expect. Needless to say the success rate of quests has suffered, just like everything else. Percy once told me Hera referred to him as glue, and she was right. He was the glue to this camp, and we had fallen apart when he left.

"Lady Annabeth." Chiron bowed at my arrival.

"Chiron please stop calling me Lady, if it weren't you I would not be here," I said.

That was very true, he had trained me and helped me in ways that if he had not, I would have died long ago. Even though I was grateful to him, sometimes I wish I were not here and was long dead. Chiron replied,

"My dear as much as I would like to focus on anything but the present, I am afraid we must. We have defenses set up around the camp, we expect they will come from the south side and pour along over the hill. The magical barrier would stop the monsters, but if a titan is leading them, there is little the barrier will do."

At that moment a deafening war horn blew. The sound brought back nightmares of my time in Tartarus and I knew the enemy was here. Chiron scrambled his bow, threw me on his back and galloped to the hill.

What we saw there was the most depressing thing I had ever seen other than Percy's empty bed the day he was exiled. Endless hordes of monsters of every kind was marching toward the camp. There must have been at least fifty thousand. The worst part however was the being that was out in front. Leading them in his purple war regalia, wielding a deadly six foot long scythe was an old enemy. Kronos, the Lord of Time had returned.


	9. Meeting the Angels

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: March 6th, 2515

-Annabeth POV-

My heart stopped. I couldn't believe he was back. The first time we fought him he was in the body of Luke, and it was hard enough to defeat him then. The only reason we were able to beat Kronos the first time was because he was in a weakened form and because we had… him. But now he was in his titan form, standing probably six foot five, looking as buff and powerful as Atlas had. Then I saw the worst part of him, his eyes. They were just as gold and just as cold as I remember. Even from half a mile away, using my godly vision I could see those eyes of death.

'We are doomed," I said to Chrion.

"Child as long as we can stand, we fight," said Chiron absolutely calm.

I felt as if my whole life was happening before me. In a moment, I thought about all the times I had fought and bled with Percy. All of our adventures and victories. Every laugh, every kiss, and then the endless torment of lifetimes without him.

"I am sorry if I have offended you, or disappointed you teacher," I said.

At this point Chiron knew I had lost hope and was ready to die. But at that moment something happened that I literally could not believe was happening right before my eyes.

The army of the enemy was half a mile from our first line of defense, of which Chiron and I were a part of. One moment all you could hear was the running and yelling of monsters, the next there was a swirling sound coming from the sky. I looked up and so did the enemy army. Up probably a mile hovering above us were four ships that were as black as Nyx and looked like transport ships. The bottom of each ship was circling and a rim of light was extending down to the ground between the enemy and us.

The rim of light was circular, perhaps a quarter mile long and wide and light blue. After the light touched the ground another army appeared out of nowhere, it was like the army was beamed down onto the ground from the ships. With my godly mind I knew there were 6000 troops now standing between us and the enemy. In all of my existence I had never seen an army like this.

Each member was clothed in pure white armor from head to toe. Each wore an equally as white cloak that seemed to take no notice of the wind the ships had created. It looked like it was split into six groups of 1000 soldiers. Each section wielding a different weapon. The left middle group was of medium build holding dual swords. The right middle were also of medium build wielding a spear and shield. The next left group were huge and muscular holding Great War hammers that looked like they could crush boulders. The next right group was smaller and thinner that held bow and arrows with a short sword sheathed at their side. The far left group were of larger build but not as large as the hammer wielding soldiers and had double bladed war axes. And the far right group were the smallest and held dual hunting knives as long my arm.

They were without a doubt the single most menacing army I had ever seen. Each one radiated power like a minor god. Six figures emerged from the wraith army ranks. They seemed to be the leader of each division. While the leaders walked ten or so feet in front of the army, not one member of the army moved a muscle even through the massive army of monsters they were staring right at.

Kronos even looked nervous as he raised his scythe trying to rouse his army,

"We still outnumber them, we will crush them and burn their pathetic camp to the ground."

Out of nowhere a beam of blinding light came from the sky and hit Kronos's scythe. Kronos watched horrified as his beloved weapon split into two pieces, and melted into dust as the fell to the ground.

The leader of the middle left section of the wraith army yelled a single command,

"To arms, address the heir!"

Each section of the army readied their weapons in perfect harmony and looked up. I did too and when I did, I saw one figure jump out of the highest ship and plummet to earth. As he fell, he spiraled and flipped until just before hitting the ground he flipped to a standing position and landed on both feet, promptly stunning me and everybody else in the field, save the wraith army.

With a loud and commanding voice that echoed off the sides of the hill he said,

"Angels of Chaos, attack."

"Yes Commander," they shouted back.

As soon as the words left their mouths, the army rocked back on their heel, then bounded forward and started running towards the enemy. I was blown away, every soldier stepped in perfect synchronization and the distance between each step was the exact same. There were no individuals, there was only the group. With each step the army made a short, threatening yell. I don't know what the enemy was thinking but I know I would not want to be on the wrong side of this perfect march.

Running incredibly quickly, it took only ten bounds and five seconds for the army to run the quarter mile distance and close in on the enemy. Before reaching them, the group armed with bows shot a flaming volley of arrows into the enemy ranks which set the monsters and grass on fire, causing general chaos. As soon as the wraiths reached the monsters, each group made a massive attack each based on their weapon. One section swung their great hammers and knocked monsters flying back and out of sight. The one wielding spears thrust them through the two fronts lines of monsters. It was beautiful. As the army hacked, swung, shot, stabbed, and hammered, Kronos was nowhere to be found. The Commander remained where he had landed and was looking around with seemingly no regard to the safety of his army. But who could blame them, unbelievably, within two minutes every monster was either dead or retreating.

The field was strewn with dust, more monster dust then I have ever seen. As the wraith army sheathed their weapons, the warrior who had jumped from the ship yelled a single order,

"Angels of Chaos, regroup."

The army answered in perfect harmony,

"Yes Commander."

Within a couple seconds, the man they called the Commander and the six leaders of the sections were standing before the army that was back in formation. Not a single soldier had died during that fight. The Commander turned and with the army at his heels walking in time, made their way towards us. After the Commander took two steps, the leaders stepped off and followed, after they had taken two steps, the army stepped off and started marching in time.

I won't lie, I was afraid as the ominous army that made almost no sounds marched to us with their weapons and armor they had just slaughtered thousands of monsters with stopped ten feet from us. As they stopped, the Commander yelled another command,

"At ease."

"Yes Commander," they answered.

At once every soldier pulled off their helmet perfectly of course and relaxed their stance. There were humans, spirits, nymphs, but also other beings I did not recognize, they might have been aliens for all I knew. For an army that was so perfectly disciplined just moments ago, they seemed perfectly comfortable, happy, and relaxed now that the danger was gone. Annabeth was brought out of her thoughts when the Commander stepped forward and addressed the camp.


	10. Allistar

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: March 6th, 2515

-Annabeth POV-

Now that the leadership of the army was closer, I could see distinctions in their armor from the rest of the army. Each leader wore the same armor as the army but each one had a symbol on their chest piece and on the front of their helmet which they had yet to remove. The one who had given the order before the Commander arrived had crossing swords, kind of like the old pirate ship flags. The huge leader had a flaming hammer. One had a double bladed axe. Another had a bow with two arrows crossing through it. Another a spear atop a shield. The last had two short knives parallel to each other. Other than that their armor was the same.

Now the Commander was a different story. Now that he was close, I could see that his armor was sparkling, almost as if there were diamonds embedded into the armor. But this was not a cold light such as was the armor of Hyperion, but a shining, pure white light. However in the middle of his chest piece and on the front of his helmet, there was a black circle. Now when I say black I don't mean night time sky black, I mean like completely void of any light black. It was as if the circle absorbed literally all light it came into contact with.

Once again my thoughts were interrupted by the Commander.

"Good morning," he said in a metallic tone clearly the product of some kind of voice-altering technology in his helmet.

Well, that was not what I expected. I regret to admit the fact that I was intimidated by this man. His calm collected demeanor, his casual conversation making after completely destroying an enormous army of monsters. The deadly looking army of wraiths that now looked like they could have just been at a sports event and not a battle with monsters trying to kill them in various painful ways.

"You seem nervous, the army is destroyed and the threat is gone for now."

Speaking for the first time, I managed to say,

"Yes I can see that and we are grateful for you saving us."

"Saving people is the reason I exist," the Commander said.

Wow, there is the pain again. That line reminded me so much of Percy my façade broke and I looked down for a moment in pain. This did not escape the Commander's attention and he asked,

"Did I say something that offended you?"

"No, I was merely reminded of something from my past. You did not do it on purpose."

"Oh, I apologize," he replied.

The Commander stepped back and surveyed our forces. I felt self-conscious, everybody in this field knew we didn't stand a chance before the wraiths showed up. We had managed to gather around five hundred demi-gods including both greek and roman heroes, ten minor gods including myself, about one hundred nature spirits, and of course Chiron. Our modest size would have made nothing more than a scouting party for the enormous enemy army. The Commander addressed us all as he said,

"My name is Allistar. The men and woman at my back comprise the greatest army the universe has ever seen: The Angels of Chaos, I am their Commander. We are an assembly of demi-gods, demi-titans, nature spirits, aliens, and other races hand-picked by the creator to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. We protect the innocent, punish the guilty, and destroy all forms of evil in the pursuit of a universe free of war, slavery, and fear."

"The six soldiers standing behind me are the leaders of each section of the Angels. They are code-named Slade, leader of Alpha squad. Violet, leader of Beta squad. Inferno, leader of Gamma squad. Atlan, leader of Epsilon squad. Thror, leader of Eta squad. And Arwin, leader of Zeta squad."

Once Allistar had finished, Chiron walked forward, stopped before Allistar and bowed deeply. He said,

"Allistar, I can never thank you enough for saving this camp. We had abandoned hope for survival. Please tell me, why are you here. Please don't mid-understand, we only wish to know why the creator would see fit to send you to save us."

Allistar looked at Chiron and replied,

"You must be Chiron, the trainer of heroes. I have heard much about you from various members of my army."

Hope exploded inside of me. It was an irrational hope, a foolish hope, but it was hope none-the-less. I couldn't help myself as I practically begged Allistar,

"Allistar, do you have soldiers in your army who went to this camp?"

He looked back at me and said,

"Indeed, if I remember correctly almost five hundred Angels once called this camp home. Including the majority of my leadership."

As if they had practiced, the leaders suddenly took their helmets off, revealing six humans, several of which were old friends.

At first I couldn't believe my eyes, it was if Hecate was back and had placed a spell on me to see what I wanted. Before my eyes now stood Luke, Leo, Silena, and Charlie Beckendorf. The other two I did not recognize. One was tall, blonde, and elegant looking, while the other had light brown hair and seemed to look timeless.

The camp erupted in shouts, screams, and people yelling the hero's names. Each of them looked at Allistar as if asking permission to respond. Apparently they actually were because he nodded his head and having permission, they relaxed their stance but for some reason not their expression.

I was confused so I decided to speak,

"Luke, Silena, Leo, Charlie, gods I have missed you."

I tried to walk forward to hug Luke but was gently pushed back. Confused, I saw Allistar waving his hand back and my body responded by sliding back to where I was.

I looked up in confusion at Luke who was suddenly glowering at me. Allistar regarded me,

"We have heard of many of you. Stories of your betrayal spread through the army when we learned we would be coming here. My solders know of you especially. We mean you no harm, but you will find no love from the members of this army. You know of what I speak."

There was only one way these people could have known about our betrayal, and that was if he was in the army. I was absolutely terrified of the answer, but I needed to know.

"I understand. Is... Is… P-Percy in your army?" I asked trembling.

It was the first time I had spoken his name in over five hundred years. Allister's answer however destroyed any hope that I had built up for being reunited with Percy. It opened up the gaping hole in my heart and brought down all the walls I had built to mask my crushing pain,

"He was," Allistar simply said.

My knees gave out the moment he said those two words. I couldn't handle it, I needed to be by myself. I know mother would be angry with me for showing weakness, but I immediately flashed away from camp half blood.

Not knowing where exactly I was headed, I was not surprised to look up and see waves crashing against a sandy beach, and to smell him in the air. I made it to where the tide was now receding and fell to my knees, unable to handle the pain that I knew in my soul would never leave me…


	11. Introductions

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: March 6th, 2515

-Allistar POV-

I knew I was spending too much time talking to her, it would haunt me tonight in my dreams. But as we stood there barely ten feet apart, it was like nothing had changed. Even though she had broken my heart, even though five hundred years had passed, I loved her. I loved how she analyzed everything I said. I loved how her blonde hair was the exact same color and length as it had been. I loved her stormy gray eyes that went from being intimidating when I first met her, to being one of my favorite things about her.

But I also knew that she had left me, she had gone along with my exile only months after having the marriage talk. I knew that if I went back, if I revealed myself to her, she would reject me just like she did five hundred years ago. The two desires were waging war inside of me. The overwhelming desire to tell her who I was, to try to be with her again. But the sane, rational side of me knew nothing had changed. If I revealed myself, the pain would start all over again. Don't get me wrong, five hundred years of training and learning from the creator, and I was still a seaweed brain. But even I wasn't that much of a seaweed brain, I had enough sense to keep my mouth shut. So I made my decision while talking to her that I would keep my identity a secret. I would lie to her and tell her that Percy Jackson was dead. That was the only way she wouldn't tie Percy to Allistar.

"You know of what I speak."

I said while subtly telling her that the Angels knew what she had done, and that they had little interest in speaking to her because of that fact. I hated treating her like this, but as far as I know, these people still hate me and keeping my identity hidden is paramount to me right now. It feels strange to talk to her like this, but if I was overly kind to her she might begin to get suspicious. And if there's one thing I know about Annabeth, it is never underestimate her ability to figure things out.

For some reason I did not know, she looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack. Was she that scared that I was back? Did the idea of dealing with me again scare her that much? Or was she afraid that the army would mutiny and take their own vengeance on her? Either way she seriously needed to take a chill pill. I knew what was coming next, she would ask if I were here. She needed to make sure I would not be coming back to her begging her to take me back. My suspicion was confirmed as she said,

"I understand. Is… Is… P-Percy in your army?

She was practically forcing the words out. I had never seen Annabeth like this. She used to be strong, confident, and calculating. This woman looked broken, scared, and un-sure of herself. Was this all the product of fear? Was she so scared of me that she was shaking in her shoes at the thought of me coming back?

The time had come to eliminate any hope I had of recovering our friendship. I knew that the moment she thought Percy was dead, her entire prerogative would change. She would probably smile knowing that she would never have to deal with me again. I hated giving her the satisfaction, I wanted her to sweat and think I was angry and looking for revenge. But it would have been foolish to drag it out so raising my chin ever so slightly I said,

"He was."

I expected her to be happy, to sigh in relief or something similar. But her reaction was the opposite of anything I thought would happen, and it left me even more confused.

As soon as the words left my mouth, she let out a quiet shriek, and fell forward. It was a display of pure pain, of complete misery. Before hitting the ground there was a bright flash of light that lasted a couple seconds then disappeared, leaving an empty space where she had just been standing. I wasn't positive, but before she flashed out, I thought a saw a single tear fall from one of her beautiful gray eyes…

I was stunned to say the least. Annabeth had just had the complete opposite reaction to the news that I was dead. Instead of being happy or relieved like I thought she would have been, she seemed… sad. No, sad was not extreme enough to describe what just happened. She looked broken, as if something inside of her had snapped and she lost the ability to control herself. This went against everything I had assumed and I was left without a clue to what was going on.

But I was still Allistar as much or more than I was Percy, and the Commander did not show hesitation or weakness. Fortunately when I evolved in the realm of Creation, my mind was enhanced, so I went over all of this in my mind and responded to the display before anybody could question why her disappearing affected me so much. I now needed to play the part of a confused Commander who had never met her so I looked at Chiron and said,

"Is she alright? Who was she by the way?"

Chiron looked away from where Annabeth had been standing and addressed me,

"Her name is Annabeth, daughter of Athena."

The next question was both for show and because I was personally curious to how she was still alive. I asked him,

"From the stories I have heard, she lived over five hundred years ago, I take it she was made immortal?"

Chiron answered,

"Yes she and the other remaining heroes who defeated Gaea were made immortal along with others that fought during the Giant War. She is the immortal lieutenant of Athena."

Looking around I saw a few other familiar faces: Nico, son of Hades. Jason, son of Jupiter. Frank, son of Mars. Along with a few others. I had forgiven them, but apparently the leaders of the Angels had not. Leo was looking at the present heroes who travelled on the Argo II with an absolutely murderous expression. He never let it go how they didn't stand up for me when I was exiled. A fact I wished he would let go.

"As to your other question, she is far from alright. I fear that she is beginning to fade."

My stomach turned over and a cold icy hand closed around my heart. I had seen a god fade before. Annabeth was close to sharing the fate that Pan endured? Could it… no of course not. It could not possibly be because she was now under the impression that I was dead. Secretly hoping I was wrong I asked,

"Fading? I thought gods only faded when their realm of influence was diminished. Is she not the daughter of the wisdom goddess? Of all the immortals I would think beings of wisdom would endure."

"Indeed she is. I have only ever heard of one god fading, his name was Pan. He was the god of the wild, and he faded only after thousands of years of his realm withering. It seems our young Annabeth has lost the will to continue. The power of the gods means nothing if a being has lost the desire to live."

I couldn't help it, hope was building inside of me. I knew it was foolish to hope, after so long there was little chance that we would end up together, that I could return and once again save my Wise Girl. But hope was kindled nonetheless.

I mentally scolded myself, I was ignoring my duties. Getting back to business I said,

"We must discuss other matters."

Chiron nodded his head and replied,

"Yes quite right, the sad story of Annabeth and the rest of the campers will have to wait. Again I am very grateful for your arrival and for saving us. Back to my former question, why has Chaos sent you to save us?"

I replied,

"Chaos has foreseen a massive host assembled against the gods, one Olympus cannot defeat. If your gods fall, the world will cease to be the beautiful creation it has been since the beginning. Also if the evil that festers here is allowed to live, it will move to other corners of the universe, spreading carnage, evil, and madness. As the protectors of the universe we are here to end this threat and ensure good triumphs."

Chiron smiled and having bowed again said,

"Well we are eternally grateful. I assume that was not the entirety of the army?"

"Not even close. That was merely a test, a warm up for their leader to access our strength. He will be back with a larger host within the week if I am not much mistaken."

Stepping back again, I addressed the entire camp,

"Camp half blood, we will be spending time with you in this camp. During our time here, we will train you on how we fight wars. I realize you train on normal basis, but the men and woman of the Angels of Chaos are the elite, the protectors of the universe. The training we will give you is something you can acquire nowhere else. We will protect you until the time where I deem you fit to defend yourselves. And when that time comes, we will leave you in the security our training has provided you."

Most of the campers smiled and nodded their heads, obviously grateful that they were being protected and would soon be able to defend themselves from the armies that will threaten them. A few girls in the back groaned and stomped their feet, daughter of Aphrodite no doubt.

Wanting to give my soldiers the rest of the day off, and more importantly wanting to council with the leader of the Angels, I turned back to Chiron,

"We will begin training two days from now at dawn. Prepare your campers Chiron, our training will truly test them. With yours and the god's permission, I would like to hold a war meeting tonight on Olympus with all of our allies to discuss the coming months."

"Of course Allistar, I will contact the gods immediately, I am sure they will be more than pleased to welcome you to Olympus. Where will you and your army be sleeping during your time here? I regret to say we have not the space to comfortably house you all."

I had already thought of that and an easy solution. I needed a cabin that could hold six thousand and seven people for several months. Knowing full well none of the current cabins combined could hold us, I decided to make one for ourselves. Being a lord of Creation has its perks sometimes as I held out my hand and a sphere of shining, white light formed in my palm. Every member of the camp stared at the sphere in wonder. It was clear they had never seen power like this before. I surged energy into it and threw the sphere into the air. Every pair eyes in the field including those of the Angels who loved watching displays of my power were focused on the sphere as it soared into the air, floated to a large open space on the north side of camp, and descended into the ground.

For a moment nothing happened, but then a white beam of light extended out of the ground that reached as high as a five story building. A great flash of light followed that forced everybody except myself to look away. When the light died, a white, multi level cabin now dominated the area that was previously vacant.

By this time the mouths of most of the campers were wide open. They were flabbergasted at the display of raw power I had just demonstrated. "Wait until they see me when I am really trying" I thought.

Chiron looked impressed to say the least but said,

"Not to doubt you, but will that hold your entire army?

My troops and I all smiled as this was standard procedure when the Angels stayed anywhere for an extended period of time. I replied,

"The exterior of the cabin is what your eyes truly see, but the inside is magic and expands into a small city that will house us for the entire period of our stay, it is where we stay when we travel."

The camp obviously was overwhelmed by the amount of power we seemed to have. Some looked impressed, others scared, others excited that we would be staying with them. Wanting to wrap things up I ended,

"The Angels and I will be in our living quarters, in the meantime I suggest you prepare for the war meeting."

Turning around I shouted,

"Angels of Chaos."

At once six thousand and six soldiers snapped into position, waiting for my orders.

"You are released until 0600 tomorrow morning, at which time report to this location for field training. Leaders, adjourn with me to my chambers. Dismissed."

"Yes Commander," they shouted back.

All formalities temporarily pushed aside, the Angels broke into groups intent on doing various things such as training, eating, and exploring. The leaders and I made our way to the Chaos cabin to discuss the events of the day, and to plan for the next few months.


	12. Angelic Meeting

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: March 6th, 2515

-Allistar POV-

As the rest of the Angels went off to do Chaos knows what, the leaders and I walked to our cabin. I inclined my head and the doors swung open, revealing a stone path that snaked through rows of simple, white brick houses. Each house held twenty Angels so there were three hundred houses in our mini city. The leaders and I stayed in the house at the end of the path on top of a hill. It was smaller than the rest of the houses seeing as how it only needed to hold seven people. Each Angel shared a room with another and had their own bathroom. There were two kitchens in each house, and an entertainment room for the downtime our army often had.

The Angels had told me on more than one occasion that standard military barracks would have sufficed, but I loved my army and I wanted them to be comfortable. Many Angels were people I had saved from various situations. I had saved some from bounty hunters, others from corrupt governments, others from homicidal ex-boyfriends, and I had forged a bond with each and every member. It was important to me that they feel at home even if we were on the opposite side of the universe.

My friends and I made our way to our house basking in the light of the sun I had created to light up our city. I had spent weeks perfecting this star. It was a striking dark blue color that shone beautifully. I had always loved the color blue so I thought, "why not make my own blue star?" I named it Elpis, after the spirt of hope. Inferno thought it was corny but I didn't mind, I thought it the name fit perfectly.

Reaching my chambers, each of us pressed our wrist armor and we were then standing in a circle with various expressions on our faces. The moment our armor disappeared, Aurora walked over to me and hugged me suddenly. It was totally a sisterly hug obviously, but she knew what I was going through and wanted to comfort me. The other leaders had understanding on their faces as I began to cry softy.

When I was Allistar, I was militaristic, I was disciplined, and I did not show weakness. As Percy though, my heart was still broken. The armor was in a way meant to protect me from enemies, but also to help me cope with the fact that I missed camp and the campers more than I could put into words. And I still longed desperately to be accepted by them. Five hundred years had done a lot for me, but I was still in love with Annabeth.

There was no way I would ever cry in front of anybody except the people in this room and Chaos. Aurora backed up and smiled at me as I half-heartedly smiled back and wiped my tears. Luke walked up and clapped me on the shoulder, telling me without words that he was there for me. The rest of them just stood there with me as I gathered my thought, and took the needed time to build myself back up so that I could continue. The people with me were the best of friends. They knew there was nothing they could say that would make me feel better, they were simply there, and that was the best thing they could have done to help.

After about five minutes of crying, thinking, and pulling myself back together, I looked up and felt better. I said to all of them,

"You six are my best friends, if any one of you were taken it would be a tragic loss. I hope to Chaos that I will spend forever with you all."

Silena had been crying as well, seeing me that vulnerable had affected her. The seven of us were bond in more than friendship, when one of us hurt, we all hurt. There was a physical feeling when a brother or sister was in pain. Silena had always been the kindest and most compassionate of us, and when one of us hurt, she was usually right there with them.

Beckendorf wrapped his arm around her, comforting her. It made me happy to see that my friends had found others that completed them. Beckendorf and Silena had been together since before they died. Leo and Calypso had apparently met on Ogygia after Leo died and had grown very close. And Luke and Aurora would never admit it, but I knew they had fancied each other for decades.

"Percy you are our leader. More than that you are a brother, we would follow you to the ends of existence," said Aurora.

I had met Aurora twenty two years after being taken by Chaos. I found her during a recon mission on the planet Gorgum in sector 2. She was lying in a street half dead…

-Flashback-

-Allistar POV-

I'm sick of this place. It smells of feces, the air is foul with decay, and I want to go home. The only comfort I can take is that I have only one more target to interrogate then I can leave this armpit of a planet.

Jumping down from the building I was perched atop, I started running through the streets to get to my location. My journey led me through the red light sector, and after passing a particularly dark alley, I smelled bodily fluids. Being the protector of the universe, I had to see if I could help in any way.

Lurking in the shadows of the alley, I looked for any victims. Half way down the alley, I saw a woman lying face down on the ground. She had been raped, I could tell from the overwhelming smell of blood and semen. I could hear her heartbeat but it was struggling. It would beat than drown out, as if it were working as hard as it possibly could to circulate her blood. She was unconscious as well. My heart was broken for her. I couldn't just leave her to die. It was a cold, rainy night and she must have been freezing because her clothes were ripped and almost all of her skin was showing. I made a bubble surrounding the two of us and willed the temperature to be a comfortable seventy give degrees, at least she would be dry and warm now. I reached under her and carefully turned her over, when I did I almost started weeping.

Both eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Her cheeks were swelling and whoever had done this had had cut her jaw open. I gasped out loud and looked down, needing a moment to collect myself. When I did I put my hand on her chest and passed the smallest amount of electricity into her, which woke her up, barely though. She opened one bruised eye and breathed out in pain. She looked at me and said with a raspy, pleading voice,

"Please… please leave me alone. I am ashamed, please look away."

I would do no such thing, I was going to save her. She would smile again, I promised myself that she would have a new life. I also decided that I didn't want to deal with the interrogation so I pressed a button on my armor that would notify Slade that he needed to take over. He would know I was not in danger, just that something else had come up. I looked down at the girl and said,

"I will not. Tell me my dear, what is your name?

She looked confused as If she couldn't remember, after ten seconds of silence she answered,

"Aurora"

What a beautiful name. Chaos did not force me to come with him, he gave me a choice, so I would follow in his example and offer this poor woman a choice. I said,

"Aurora, I can save you. I can give you a new life you can't even imagine. I will protect you and you will never have to fear again. But I need you to tell me to save you. I cannot save you without your permission. Tell me, do you wish for a painless passing, or a new life."

Her open eye looked through me as if imagining living again, imagined being safe, she feebly answered,

'I don't want to die, I am afraid to die. Please save me, please protect me."

A single tear slid down my cheek as I smiled and said back,

"You will be happy again Aurora."

-End Flashback-

-Back at the Chaos cabin-

Aurora looked at me, smiled, and said,

"You saved me Percy. You looked at my broken body and saw beauty and hope. I see you now despairing and unsure. I know you will make the right decision and you will rise above this pain"

I felt one hundred percent better at this point. Back to my usual self, I smiled and spread my arms out. It was cheesy, it was childish, but it was one of the best group hugs I had ever had.

Calypso, ever the one to get things done asked,

"What do you plan on accomplishing at the meeting tonight Percy?"

I answered,

"I plan on explaining everything regarding the war to all of our allies so that we are all on the same page. I want to discuss logistics, training, and plans for the future. As a secondary objective, I want to see my father."

The other leaders nodded, understanding my desire to see how Poseidon was doing. We all figured he took my exile hard, and I wished to see what has happened on Olympus since I'd last been there.

I had one other thing to ask them. So I asked them all,

"I wish to speak to Annabeth."

Silena, Aurora, Beckendorf, and Calypso all smiled, knowing that I needed closure. Leo and Luke however looked surprised. Leo said,

"Percy are you sure? Do you plan on telling her who you are?"

"I don't know yet. I want to, if she is indeed despairing due to my apparent death, I need her to know that I am alive. Maybe she can move on after she is made aware that I am alive," I replied.

"Or maybe she will want to be with you again," offered Silena.

I smiled and looked down. Leave it to the daughter of Aphrodite to be giddy over the prospect of lost love. Either way Annabeth and Allistar needed to talk. I would decide if Annabeth and Percy needed to talk during the conversation.

I wanted my friends to relax so raising my head I said,

"Alright my friends, I love you all. Go have fun and relax. Please be at the field tonight ready to fly to Olympus. Dismissed."


	13. A spark

-Allistar POV-

After they had left, I contacted Chaos via holo communicator, he had asked me to fill him in once we had stopped the attack on the camp.

I activated the communicator and an image of a little boy came onto the screen. It was the same little boy I had met in the alley way all those years ago. Chaos was in his little boy mode.

"Good afternoon Percy. I hope you and the Angels are doing well," he said.

"Yes Lord Chaos we rescued the camp and have settled in. The Angels are enjoying some down time at the moment. There will be a meeting for all of our allies tonight at Olympus. Do you plan on attending," I asked.

He seemed to ponder that for a moment then replied,

"No, I think you can handle the meeting my dear boy. I sense indecision in you, such as I have not felt since before you joined with me. What is bothering you son?"

"She is still alive… Annabeth," I said.

Chaos rocked back on his heels and nodded his head. There was something of about his behavior, as if he was hiding something.

Then I put it together, of course he knew…

"You knew they were still alive didn't you," I asked.

I couldn't hide the pain in my voice. He knew they were alive, and sent me to earth thinking they were dead anyway.

"Why? Why did you send me here thinking they were dead? Only to arrive and come face to face with the very person who broke my heart," I demanded as my anger grew.

I felt betrayed, I felt lied to. This was supposed to be my father, why hadn't he given me all the information he had? Had he kept other important information from me? Was there more I needed to find out only to break down in tears afterward?

Chaos was silent for ten seconds when I couldn't take it any longer. Anger built up inside of me and came out in a barely controlled yell,

"Answer me! What else have you hidden from us?"

Chaos looked like he was about to get angry, nobody had ever used that tone with him. But just as he looked like he was about to yell back at me, he sighed in defeat. He suddenly sat down on his throne and looked older than I had ever seen him. But this was not the old that I had come to expect from the first being, not an immortal old, but a frail old, a weak old. I felt like I was watching him age right before my eyes. He finally looked back up at me and I saw despair in his eyes. Taking a deep breath he said,

"I am so sorry for keeping this from you. I had no right, I only kept it from you because I was afraid if you knew they were alive then you would not save them. I was worried that If you knew, you would abandon them to their fate. Earth cannot fall, it must not fall. If the evil that gathers there is allowed to spread, Order will grow stronger, he will influence more, he will spread more evil, and the universe will fall into madness."

My anger dissipated suddenly. Now I felt like the one in the wrong. I had yelled at my father, the one that saved me from an eternity of torture in Hades. I had made him despair.

"Father, please forgive me. I was out of line. You were only trying to do what is right. Please say you will forgive me," I said.

Chaos looked at me and smiled. The little boy laughed, and I had forgotten what that laugh sounded like. It was as if all the joy, love, and goodness was in his voice. After laughing he said,

"We both have reasons to repent. But if you can forgive me, I will gladly forgive you."

We smiled at each other, two being destined to rule. One nearing the end of his existence, the other just beginning yet not wanting to lose his father.

"Back to the matter at hand, what are you so unsure about Percy," he asked.

"I wish to speak to her, but I need to know something Chaos. Will she reject me," I asked.

Chaos smiled sadly and replied,

"My son you must walk your path on your own. Someday I will not be here to guide you. Someday you will watch over my creation. You may not understand what I mean when I say that now, but someday you will. You must act on your own initiative. I cannot give you the answer to that question. The only thing I can say is that things are not what you think they are, and you must prepare yourself for something you thought you would never again experience."

"I do not understand, but I trust you father. I will speak to her as Allistar. I need closure with her. I need to understand where she stands. She seemed so… shattered at the news of my death today. I know you cannot answer me, but I need to find the answer to my questions. And the only way to do that is to speak with her."

Chaos beamed at me and said,

"I have told you this before, but when I fade and you take over for me, the universe will be a much better place."

I laughed and replied,

"And I have told you several times, there will never be another like you, and there will never be another who will rule as well as you."

"We will see, well I guess I won't see. But only time will tell. I wish you all the luck in the world. Go and decide you path. I love you my son" he said as the communicator turned off.

I deactivated the communicator, and walked over to my wardrobe. Not wanting to wear hot, heavy armor around all day, To protect my identity I decided on a simple black robe, and a my silver eradicator mask a race of aliens had given me after I saved their home world. I strapped my cloak on, pulled my hood over my head, put the mask on, and turned to leave to confront my old love.

-Annabeth POV-

I stared at into the vast blue ocean. I had been here for an hour now and had no intention of going back. If this is what fading was like, I would gladly accept it compared to face another day without Percy.

After he… left, we were made immortal by the council of the gods. I begged not to be turned immortal. I begged to remain mortal, to die with my grief. At least when I died I could try for rebirth, that way I would not remember my agonizing pain. But no, they made me immortal. In making me a god, they guaranteed that I would suffer in torment every day of eternity. I was now Annabeth, immortal architect of Olympus and head advisor to Athena, goddess of Wisdom. People would bow when I walked into the room, men would turn their head at stare when I walked by. I was immortal, beautiful, wise, and empty. One hundred percent, unequivocally void of all essence.

Coming to the beach helped in some small way during the first hundred years. I would come and smell the sea and remember what his breath smelled like. I would feel the gently breeze and remember how it used to untidy his black hair. I would see the waves crash against the shore and remember looking into his emerald eyes and getting lost in how beautiful they were.

Every day I would pray to every immortal who didn't hate me. I would beg them to bring him back to me. I sacrificed, I begged, I pleaded, and nothing. Poseidon had left the Olympic council and we have not seen any of him since then. Hestia had reluctantly taken his place on the council. The gods condemned the actions of Hecate and her puppet Stephen. Hermes had put their fate up to a vote. In an overwhelming decision of eleven to one, Hestia voting against it, Hecate and Stephen were sentenced to eternity in Tartarus for their heinous actions.

Even though the ones responsible faced justice, it did nothing to ease the pain. The moment the spell broke I realized what I had done. I ran to Percy's cabin, hoping beyond reason that he would be there. Obviously he wasn't. His cabin was empty, and it has not changed since, nor has a single soul stepped foot in that cabin since the day he was exiled.

I learned three things the day I was made immortal. Firstly is that I would never see my seaweed brain ever again. A fact I will never be able to accept completely. Secondly, when they tell you that you are now immortal, the enormity of that fact doesn't sink in right away, but now that I have walked this earth for half a millennia, I understand that forever, especially a forever spent alone, is a very, very long time. And lastly, so many demi-gods want to live forever as a god. But now that I have experienced a small amount of forever, I realize that there is nothing. No comfort, no love, no happiness. Never changing, never growing, frozen in eternal suffering. There is nothing, but the cold, cruel abyss of eternity.

-Line break-

During the timeless period in which I spent staring into the ocean, a familiar voice suddenly shook me from my depressed stupor.

"I have heard that the ocean of the earth is the most beautiful body of water in the universe. Now that I stand upon its shore, I agree with the accounts. It is a wonderful sight to behold."

I spun around and saw standing merely feet behind me was the Commander of the Angels: Allistar. He was dressed in simple black jeans, black shoes, and a black sweater. Around his neck hung a cloak of pure black and he was wearing a mask to most likely hide his identity. This guy sure loved the color black.

"Hello Commander," I said, not wanting to offend him by my lack of self-motivation. I was sitting in a puddle of my own tears, with puffy eyes and my voice was shaking from the effort it took to speak. But I knew that he would have little patience for self-pity. I needed to act like my mother's daughter. I needed to pull myself together.

Allistar seemed to be thinking the exact opposite as he casually sat down and sighed. I was confused at why he was so relaxed and casual. He furthered my confusion as he looked over to me and said,

"Annabeth, don't pretend to be something you're not while you are with me. I know you feel that you must put on a show because of who your mother is, but you can be yourself with me. You don't have to mask the pain you so clearly feel."

That did it, I was absolutely weeping without control. I had never cried like this before. I shrieked, I cried, and pounded my fist, I cursed, and I hurt. I had lost all self-respect at this point. Here was perhaps the second most powerful being in the universe, a man I literally just met, and I had abandoned every ounce of control around him. I was losing it, I was beginning to lose my mind.

After ten solid minutes of uncontrolled mourning, he still just sat there in silence waiting for me to pull myself together. Even though I could not see his face, I felt comfortable around this man. He let me cry for far too long and just sat there. I finally gathered myself enough to have a conversation and asked,

"Do you think I am pathetic? A daughter of the war goddess who weeps uncontrollably in front of a man she doesn't know. You must think me a joke."

He looked right at me and replied,

"You may not believe this, but I know exactly how you feel. I know what it's like to lose a part of your soul. Long ago I was separated from the woman I love. She turned her back from me, and I have not seen her since. To my knowledge she still hates me, although I would die a thousand deaths for her without hesitation. Annabeth I am curious, what happened to you? Please be completely honest, I will not judge you in any way. I just wish to know what happened that did this to you."

I suddenly felt like I could connect with him, he had gone through this as well. I did not know him at all but for some reason trusted him completely. For this reason I decided to share the exact events of my life, and my eternal mistake, something I had not done with any other person.

"Before I begin, I need you to know that I will most likely need to collect myself several times during this story. Many parts bring me to tears simply by thinking about them. And recounting them to you will bring back many of the horrors that have haunted me since that day."

He nodded his head and replied,

"I will stay silent, and I will wait with absolute patience until you have finished. Please leave nothing out and don't for a moment hide any emotions. You do not need to be afraid of yourself. I will be here for anything you may need during the time you are speaking."

I nodded my head, mentally prepared myself, took a deep breath, and began.


	14. Annabeth's Story

-3rd Person POV-

Annabeth began her story by telling Allistar about how she was on the run as a child. Running from monsters at every corner, stealing food to survive. She told the story of Luke and Thalia, how they found her and brought her back to camp. Then came all the years she spent at camp begging to be tested but never offered a quest. Through all of it Allistar sat silent and listened intently even though he secretly knew all of this.

She then got to the part where Percy came into her life. She said,

"He was so frustrating! Such a seaweed brain. I won't lie I couldn't stand him when we first met. We had to retrieve the master bolt of Zeus because it turns out that Luke had stolen it. But during most of that quest, I wasn't sure if we were going to end up as friends or if I was just going to stab him myself."

She talked about the tree of Thalia being poisoned and the quest they went on the save Grover and protect the camp. She talked about being held captive by Luke and Atlas and being forced to hold the sky, but then being saved by Artemis and then Percy and Thalia showing up and freeing them. She talked about leading the quest to the labyrinth and how much she desperately wanted Percy with her during that quest.

"I never told Percy, but he was the only reason I made it out of that maze. When we separated once, he practically blew up a mountain so that I would have time to get away. I thought I missed him then… That was nothing compared to this. Anyway…"

She went over the second titan war then. How Percy had taken the mark of Achilles. The Battle of Manhattan and all those who gave their lives to protect camp. How Percy had fought Kronos in single combat, only to be told that he wasn't the hero.

"They gave Luke the credit, but I always gave the credit to Percy for saving us. He fought Kronos for ten solid minutes on Olympus. And just when Percy had the opportunity to kill Kronos, he heeded the prophecy and gave Luke a weapon so that he could destroy Kronos. That was the bravest thing I have ever seen anybody do. Have the Lord of the Titans at your mercy and give him a weapon because you were told you had to in order to save the ones you loved."

She spoke about the couple of peaceful months after the war that were the best days of Annabeth's life. Then how he was taken by Hera and Jason showed up at camp.

"I wanted to punch Hera in her godly face. She had taken my boyfriend just as we were actually getting to spend time with each other without having to constantly defend ourselves. I resented her for years, but in time I came to understand her decision, I still didn't like it though."

She spoke about the events of the Giant War. About Percy coming back and she feeling whole again. About the mark of Athena and a very large spider.

"Just as I was finishing my trap, she caught on. As she fell into Tartarus, a string apparently caught me and started to drag me down with her. Percy grabbed my hand and… he fell into Tartarus with me so that I wouldn't go there alone. And once again, my Percy saved me. He got me through Tarartus. I would have been driven mad down there if I had been alone… "

Allistar knew she was on the verge of breaking down so he said,

"Annabeth if you need to, please take a minute. I understand this is hard for you."

Annabeth smiled and did exactly that.

After a few minutes of crying, she was finally able to continue her story. When she did, she told about the battle with the giants, the defeat of Gaea, and then more time able to be spent with Percy.

Allistar knew this was where the story turned darker. He knew she would struggle telling this part. He was curious to hear her side of the story. And he was anxious to hear about her reasons for breaking down in the field. If Annabeth had cared about Percy so much, why had she betrayed him? Annabeth said,

"A few months after the Giant War ended, Percy and I talked about getting married."

Annabeth looked down, trying to control herself so she could get through the story. She continued,

"We were to be engaged, I was going to marry my seaweed brain, my love, my life. Two months after that conversation Percy was exiled. I don't remember the exact event of that day, I only know what Hecate said under torture. She had cast a spell over Hades, Zues, myself, and the rest of Percy's friends including Chiron. She had used a brother of Percy to set up a trap in which it looked like Percy had tried to kill his brother. The spell she had a hatred spell, and it was directed towards Percy."

She choked back a sob and continued,

"He must have been heartbroken… We yelled at him, cursed him, and told him to leave," she said through tears and sobbing.

After a few minutes of crying she gathered her thoughts and continued,

"After the spell had broken we realized what we had done. I went to his cabin out of desperation to see if he were there. It was empty, and cold. As if its life force had faded when Percy left. Hades hunted and found Hecate. She as well as Stephen were brought before the council and they were sentenced to Tartarus. After that we tried to find Percy, but he was gone. Hades said he was not in the underworld yet we could not find him on earth. It was as if he just vanished."

Allistar stepped in and said,

"You never found him because Chaos had already brought him to Genesis, our home world."

Annabeth looked at Allistar as if she was just now starting to really see him. She eagerly asked,

'You… knew him?"

Allistar smiled under his mask and replied,

"I know everything there is to know about Percy."

Annabeth choked back a sob and basically begged Allistar,

"Can I ask you a few questions about him" If you don't mind of course."

At this point Allistar was gone, it was Percy and Annabeth sitting on that beach. The mask was the only thing keeping his identity a secret, had Annabeth been paying attention and not thinking of questions about Percy, she would have sensed a change in the mood of Allistar and gotten suspicious. He was grateful for the mask though, had he not been wearing it Annabeth might have seen the tears that were dripping down his face and heard his shaking voice as he answered,

"Annabeth you can ask me anything."

Again had Annabeth not been engrossed with talking about Percy, she would have noticed how similar Allistar was to him. But as it was, she only wanted to hear about the person Percy was after he left earth. She asked,

"What was he like? How did he act?"

"He had a severe aura of sadness around him at all times. He laughed, he smiled, but he was shattered. I remember him waking up in the middle of the night several hundred times screaming. He was imagining being alone forever, with nobody to love or care for. It was because of what was done to him. But he was strong. As Percy he was broken, but he was one of the best Angels Chaos had ever seen. He trained long and hard, he helped other Angels, he took critical advice from superiors well. He was everything an honorable, strong Angel should be. But after the helmet came off… there was little life in his eyes."

Annabeth nodded slowly and had yet another crying period. How she had any tears left to cry neither one of them knew. After a few minutes she asked,

"I don't want to bombard you with questions about Percy, I have just one more."

Allistar was nervous this was coming, the death question. He had no idea how to answer. He could lie to her. He could say he didn't die he just wasn't in the army anymore, which was technically true, the Commander was not in the army because he led the army.

He was interrupted when Annabeth asked,

"Did he… hate me when he died?"

Allistar mentally sighed in relief. That was a much easier question. He replied,

"You were the one person Percy Jackson ever truly loved. You remained a part of his soul. His love for you never wavered and he never blamed you for what happened. He didn't understand why you did what you did, but he never placed blame on any of you. I wish he could have known what had really happened."

Annabeth just sat there as if Allistar had not spoken. Tears were running down both of their faces, Annabeth's falling into the already saturated sand, and Percy evaporated the tears as they reached his chin.

The time had come for Allistar to reveal himself. Now knowing that the reason Annabeth was fading was because she missed him, Percy felt an overwhelming desire to hold her. To be with her and to love her again. So making the decision he said,

"Annabeth-"

He was interrupted by a beeping sound on his wrist, he looked at Annabeth and said,

"I'm sorry I need to see what this is."

Annabeth still had not moved from her spot, tears still running down her face Allistar pressed a button on his wrist armor and an image of Slade appeared. Slade said,

"Commander we are in position ready to fly and awaiting your orders."

Allistar shook his head to clear his brain and replied,

"Thank you Slade, proceed to Olympus. I will meet you there shortly."

"Yes Commander," Slade answered back.

Allistar looked back at Annabeth to see her smiling at him. She said,

"Thank you Allistar. You have been an amazing listener. Thank you for sharing another piece of Percy with me."

I smiled and replied,

'Of course Annabeth. I would like to continue this conversation sometime. Would that be acceptable?"

She nodded and said,

"Yes. With your permission I have more questions about Percy. Anyway I will see you at the meeting."

She then stood up and walked to the water. Bending down she gathered a small handful of water in her hand and then flashed out.

Percy would need to speak with the leaders tonight about the conversation. But for now, Allistar was needed. He stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes. Looking up to the sky, he crouched down and began to gather the winds around him. As a mortal, he hated flying, but now as an immortal it was his favorite form of travel.

At once he pushed off the ground and within three seconds was soaring above the clouds shooting like a comet towards Manhattan, and the home of the gods.


	15. Olympian Meeting

-3rd Person POV-

Olympus was all but bursting with excitement. Minor gods, demi-gods, nature spirits, Olympians, and other mythical beings were all gathered in the throne room of the gods awaiting the arrival of the last members of the war meeting that was about to take place.

Annabeth flashed in behind her mother's throne and walked around to sit at her mother's feet. Usually it was disrespectful for a minor god to be late to an Olympian council meeting, but the council had granted Annabeth a reprieve from that rule, along with several other, as they know the mental ad physiological state she was in.

Everybody was here except for the Leaders of the Angels and Allistar. That changed as the throne room doors swung open, revealing six figures. The leaders were wearing similar clothing that Allistar had worn: simple jeans, a sweater, a cloak. They however had their hoods down with no masks on. Their outfits however were white though compared to the midnight black color of the clothing of Allistar.

They walked casually to the center of the room and stood there, waiting for their Commander. Many of the gathered beings smiled and waved knowingly at some of the leaders. Hephaestus nodded his head at Beckenforf and Leo. Aphrodite smiled waved at Silena. Other godly parents gave their children various signs of greeting. The leaders, still believing their parents had stood by and done nothing during my exile, all but ignored their parents.

A few minutes later each Leader snapped into attention and faced the doors of the throne room. Assuming they did this because the Commander was here, everybody else looked to the doors.

Allistar was walking up the stairs to the throne room and when he had reached the top step, looked up to see the host of Olympus and the Leaders of the Angels staring expectantly at him. A brief vision flashed across Allistar's mind of meetings in this room from another life. The first time he had seen his father, when the gods decided their fate after the quest to save Artemis, and fighting the Lord of Time for the future of the world.

He smiled sadly at old memories and began walking. He smiled genuinely as he saw the Leaders standing in formation waiting for him. He addressed them,

"At ease my friends."

They smiled and walked up to Allistar. After a brief group hug, they turned around to begin the meeting.

The first thing Allistar noticed that was different was the person sitting directly to Zeus's right. Hestia, goddess of the hearth was now sitting in the spot of Poseidon. Confused, Allistar started off by asking,

"Where is the sea god?"

Many people in the throne room looked down at this question. Everybody present save the Angels leadership knew but it still made them sad to think that Poseidon had left the council.

Zeus looked up and with a sad expression and said,

"My brother left the Olympian council when his son was banished. He now spends all of his time in Atlantis. We have not heard from him in many years."

Part of me was grateful to my dad for sticking up for me, the other half was sad that he was no longer an Olympian. I made a mental note to go visit him after speaking to the Angelic Leaders tonight. Needing to get back to focusing on the meeting I said,

"I see. It seems much changed when Percy was banished."

The Leaders looked at me with looks of sympathy but made no attempt to speak to me as they knew I had to keep my cover. Zeus replied,

"Yes all of it for the worst I am afraid. Some of lost a son, some lost a friend, some of us lost even more…"

As he said the last part he glanced quickly at Annabeth who sat with a stoic expression looking at nothing in particular. Wanting to bring my leaders up to speed, I asked Zeus,

"I am aware of the circumstances that led to his banishment, but the Angelic Leaders are not. Please recount what happened before we begin. I know this is not directly related to the war, but I don't want my friends here to continue hating you under a misinformed pretense."

As various gods told the story of what happened, from Hecate and Stephen, to my banishment, to the search for me that yielded no fruit, the Leaders looked less and less angry, at least less angry with the present company. They now knew that I was never truly betrayed, it was an evil spell that caused me to be swept aside. They also knew that justice had been served.

Having been given much to think about, when the gods ended their story I addressed the Leaders,

"Please report to my chambers directly following this meeting to council if you don't mind."

Luke smiled and replied,

"Of course Allistar, we live to follow you."

The other leaders smiled and nodded in agreement as I shook my head and said,

"Please drop the formalities.

Looking back to the Olympians I began the war briefing…

-Line break-

-Allistar POV-

After reviewing logistics, scheduling of training, and other various war related topics, it was decided that the gods would be joining their children in training. Dionysus, and Aphrodite did not look thrilled about this, but the rest of them seemed eager enough to improve their battle skills. Ares and Athena looked especially excited to learn all they could about combat from the greatest warrior in the universe. The Angels would be training the demi-gods, and nature spirits. The Angelic Leaders would be training the minor gods, and I would be training the Olympians.

Many of the people present dispersed as soon as I called the meeting to a close. Chiron took the campers back to camp, most of the gods flashed out to do their various duties, and the nature spirits all dissolved to go back to their seats of influence. Annabeth stayed though and began speaking to her mother. I wanted so badly to go speak to her again, but I had duties, and I was still the Commander.

Turning around, I looked into the smiling, almost giddy faces of the Leaders. Not wanting them to arouse any suspicions, I put a small amount of authority into my voice as I asked,

"Is something funny?"

They got the point as they snapped into attention and answered,

"No Commander."

I could tell they were nervous that they had possibly angered me. I was not angry I just didn't want people seeing their smiling faces after I had just been staring at Annabeth. I waited a brief moment to make them nervous then said casually,

"Good I hate being out of the loop of a funny joke. At ease my friends."

They relaxed and bowed their heads in an apologetic manner. Then looked up expectantly, waiting for my instructions.

"As I said, I wish to speak to you all about the events that transpired today. I apologize for making you all spend so much time away from recreational outlets, but I need advisement. I only need a short period of time and you will be free to enjoy yourselves."

Beckendorf replied,

"Allistar do no apologize. We love spending time with you and it is our duty and privilege to council you. We would be more than happy to advise you about anything you need to speak of."

I smiled and said,

"Dismissed. See you soon."


	16. A god restored

-Allistar POV-

Walking through the streets of Olympus, people had mixed reactions towards me. Some were afraid and walked quickly past me, others wanted my autograph, but most did not really know what to think. As I made my way towards the elevator, a girl perhaps six years old was running along the street. I smiled as she played in the light of the sun. She must have been the daughter of a minor god or nature spirit.

I looked up for a moment to see how far off the elevator was, when all of a sudden the little girl slammed into me, knocking her to the ground. Before looking down at the girl I saw a women come running around the corner, I assumed it was her mother because they looked very much alike. The woman stopped and gasped, clearly scared that her daughter had just run into the most powerful being on earth. Looking down at the girl, I noticed that she looked scared. Of course she was scared, I'm stupid I have my eradicator mask on. Pressing a button on my wrist, the fearful mask disappeared and was replaced with a simple white mask that covered everything except for my mouth and eyes. So the girl didn't tell people about the shining sea green eyes I had, which would obviously raise suspicions about my identity, I changed my eye color to a light sky blue. Reaching down to pick the little girl up, I smiled and said,

"Hello sweetie, what's your name?"

The little girl let out a sigh of relief but then made a face like she was in pain. I looked at her elbow and noticed it was bleeding. Smiling, I surged energy into my hand and laid it on her arm. Instantly her arm was healed and she looked up smiling at me. She said,

"My name is Hannah, my mommy is Marcilia."

Who Marcilia was, I had no clue, probably a minor nature god or something. The little girl asked,

"What's your name?"

I replied

"My name is Allistar. It's very nice to meet you Hannah."

She smiled and stood up. Her mother, Marcilia I take it had come over and picked the girl up. Marcilia looked at me and said,

"Thank you for healing my daughter's cut. My name is Marcilia, minor goddess of flowers"

They have a god/goddess for everything these days. Still I couldn't deny that Hannah was adorable, I wanted to give this child something. So smiling at her I asked,

"Do you like flowers Hannah?"

She smiled widely and replied,

"Oh yes I love flowers! Mommy makes me the prettiest flowers for my birthday."

"What's your favorite color," I asked.

She thought about it for a minute, then said excitedly,

"Blue!"

I answered,

"No way! That's my favorite color too!"

During the first couple decades of my time with Chaos, I had travelled the universe. Mostly it was looking for recruits for the Angels, but on the side I got to enjoy some exploring. One planet called Floriscia was a planet covered in nothing but grasslands. No water, the rock, grass, dirt, and flowers covered the surface. The sun it orbited around supported it so there was no need for water, Chaos called it a hydrosun or something. This planet had the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen.

So imaging a particular flower I remember seeing, I held out my hand. A bright light appeared and when it died down I was holding a beautiful sparkling blue flower inside a simple clear vase filled with water. It looked like a mix between a rose and a magnolia. The mother and daughter both gasped when they saw it. I said to the girl,

"For you Hannah. As long as you kept it watered, it will never die."

The girl's mouth was wide open as she took the vase, awestruck by the flower. She looked up and said,

"Thank you Allistar!"

And with the she ran off to take it home. The mother gave me a warm smile and ran after her. The scene had made me happy, but also a little sad because it reminded me of my own mother and little sister.

Standing up, I looked around Olympus one final time. When my eyes got to the throne room stairs I saw a single woman standing on top of them. It was Annabeth, and she was staring at me, I couldn't see her expression from here, but I could tell she had seen the whole exchange that just happened.

I decided not to wait for elevator as there would be a long line of people waiting to go back down. Of course I could always just flash down to camp, but I wanted to fly. So walking to the edge of Olympus, I turned around, took one last look at Annabeth still staring at me, and fell backward.

I once saw a video of an eagle flying in the bird's perspective. Somebody had attached a camera to it and sent it off. It flew over a mountain range. Flying in real life is nothing like that. As I fell at terminal velocity towards the earth, the feeling of free fall was exhilarating. It was a cloudy day so for a while I was consumed in clouds. But once I broke through the clouds I could see everything. The entire city of New York below me. Millions of people going about their lives and I was thousands of feet above them.

I looked over the horizon and could see for miles. I remember the first time I had flown. I had been on Genesis and had only been with Chaos for a few years. He asked me what something I had always wanted to do was but for any reason could not. Naturally being a son of Poseidon, I was forbidden to fly in Zeus's domain but had secretly always wanted to. I remember how terrified I was when I flew for the first time. But as I got used to it, it became one of my favorite sensations. Now flying at the speed of sound towards camp, the amazing sensation has never diminished.

Arriving at camp, I could see Angels doing various activities, some were training, some were playing sports, and others were just hanging out. The Angels present stopped what they were doing and saluted me, standard procedure when in the presence of the Commander or a Leader. Smiling I nodded my head and said,

"As you were, my friends."

They smiled and went back to what they were doing. Walking to the Chaos cabin, I looked over and saw a familiar sight. Back when I was here it was full of life and frequently had myself and Annabeth in it hanging out and talking. But now that Poseidon had not had any children and I had been gone for so long, cabin #3 looked like an abandoned shack. I walked slowly to it and stepped inside. The moment I walked inside I gasped. The cabin was exactly like it had been the day I last slept in it. My bed was still messy because I almost never made it. There were cobwebs everywhere and the fountain was cracked, and had developed a thick layer of dust.

I couldn't linger here, I needed to get to my friends. Plus I didn't want people seeing me in here, that would probably give it away who I was almost as showing people my face would of. I took one last look around and stepped out.

Reaching my chambers I saw the Leaders sitting on couches waiting for my arrival. I took my mask and cloak off and sat down. They ended their conversations when I sat down and looked at me, waiting to see what I wanted to talk about.

"She still loves me," I simply said.

Silena all but jumped for joy. Even being one of the most powerful beings on earth, still being over five hundred years old, the idea of love excited her just as much as it did when she was mortal.

The remainder of the Leaders just smiled and shook their heads at Silena's excitement. By now they were used to her love of love, but this was the first time that excitement was directed towards me.

"Percy Jackson, you sir had better go to Annabeth, tell her who you are, and tell her you love her too," Silena all but yelled.

I replied,

"That was what I came to ask you all about. I was about to but Luke called and informed me that you were ready for the meeting"

Silena punched Luke in arm and said,

"Luke you buffoon! He was about to reveal himself."

Luke said back,

"Ow! Don't be mad at me Percy gave us instructions and I followed them. The meeting was about to start."

"Love is more important that a war meeting," Silena said back.

I smiled and defended Luke,

"He's right, the meeting was about to start and I have plenty of time to confront Annabeth. Anyway, I am going to visit my father. From what Annabeth and Zeus said, Poseidon took me leaving hard and I wish to see how he fares."

They all nodded their heads. It was time for them to relax so ending I said,

"Alright thank you guys. Please go enjoy yourselves and relax."

After either hugging me or clapping me on the back, I was left alone with my thoughts. Putting my cloak and mask back on, I made me way out of my chambers and through the city. It was time to speak to my father.

-Line break-

By now it was night time so the ocean was dark. That was fine, I still had perfect bearings at sea plus I had been to my father's palace once already, so I made it there without getting lost or taking too long. Passing over a ridge, I was met by a depressing sight. Back when I was mortal, my father's palace had been one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. It was a place full of light, power, and people.

It seemed my father's mood affected the ocean more so than I thought. Now it was dark, cold, and there was nobody to be seen. The guards that used to patrol the perimeter were gone, no lights were on in the streets. The only way I could tell it was the palace was a dim light coming from the palace dome. Swimming without seeing any people, I arrived at the palace gates.

Even here there were no guards. I let myself through the rusty doors that sounded like they hadn't been moved in decades. Walking through the palace I came to the throne room. Taking a deep breath I prepared myself and stepped through.

Back during the titan war, Poseidon's realm had been attacked by sea monsters and the dismal state of his realm had taken a toll on him. He had looked old, weak, and frail, with a gray beard and a smaller form. He had looked more like the old man of the sea rather than the god of the sea. Now looking at him, he made the old man during the war seem positively glowing.

He was by himself sitting on a throne that was sagging and dilapidated. His trident leaning up against the throne barely had any light on the tips. The former glory of the god of the sea was forgotten, this was nothing more than a shell of the being he once was.

Hearing me walk in, he sadly looked up. Thinking I was an enemy here to finish him off, he weakly reached for his trident. Even though he looked like he was putting all of his energy into the attempt, he failed to reach it and fell back into his throne. He said in a raspy, ghostly voice,

"Well, are you here to finish me? To kill the might Poseidon, god of the sea?"

He said the last part with a hint of sarcasm, implying that killing him would have been easy for a daughter of Aphrodite in his state.

"Poseidon, what happened to you," I asked.

He looked confused, then accepting the fact that I was indeed not here to kill him, hung his head. He replied,

"Well if you aren't here to kill me I may as well take advantage of your company. I have neither moved from this spot nor spoken to anyone in decades."

I asked again,

"What happened to you?"

Poseidon looked up and replied,

"I was betrayed. My brothers banished my pride and joy… Percy my son. They falsely accused him of killing someone, and because of that I will never forgive them. I have withered to almost nothing since that day. My wife lift me, my people abandoned me, and I have been reduced to a shadow of the god that I was."

"Poseidon there is much you do not know…" I said.

After telling everything regarding the war, Chaos, and the Angels, and what Hecate had done, he didn't look surprised. He said,

"I am not surprised, Hecate has always been evil. Magic is older than the Olympians, and she has never been a true friend. I do wish I could reconcile with my brothers."

"You can Poseidon, Percy would have wanted you to fight, to go back to the world and be the god of the sea you once were," I said.

Poseidon smiled sadly and answered,

"You do not understand, it seems I have been placed under a curse. Long ago, Oceanus vowed that if I ever lost Percy, I would be doomed to roam these halls forever, never leaving in a weakened state. It was his revenge on me overthrowing him as lord of the sea. His curse bounds me here, and it saps me of strength. I cannot gather power, I cannot leave, and I can only sit here in my despair."

Anger flowed through me, I imagined the endless power of the Orb of the Sea in the realm of creation. And thrusting my hands forward I released the energy at Poseidon. Yelling I said,

"Poseidon be restored, I break the curse and return you to your former self."

Relaxing my hands and cutting off the beam of energy, I saw that the space where Poseidon was just sitting was shining. A few seconds later the light died and I could see Poseidon, but this time, it was the old Poseidon.

A thick black beard, sea green eyes, wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, my father rose confidently out of his throne. I smiled at he looked at his hands and his eyes were wide. He turned around and strongly grasped his trident. The moment his hands touched the shaft the entire sea was made new. The trident glowed brightly as it once did, the sea was bright with light, and fish began swimming back to the home of the lord of the sea.

"Let the enemies of the gods beware, for I was lost but now I am made new," Poseidon shouted in a loud, strong voice.

"You have rekindled hope in me. I now know my purpose, I will honor the memory of my son by fighting alongside his friends. How may I repay you for saving me?"

"No repayment is needed. The restoration of a pure soul is payment enough for me. Go back to Olympus. Reconcile with your brothers and know that Chaos has blessed you."

He smiled and closed his eyes. Forgotten power surged around him and in a flash of light he was gone. Flashed to Olympus to rekindle lost friendships and restore his seat on the Olympian council.


	17. Percy

-Allistar POV-

Arriving back at camp, I was very pleased to see many of the Angles hanging out with the campers. Camp looked alive and full of life, more so than I had ever seen when I was a camper. People were everywhere despite it being nine o clock at night. There were people at the beach while their friends swam. There were people in the strawberry fields walking around. Some people were training in the arena. Some were messing around on the rock wall. Most people however were down at the amphitheater taking part in a massive sing-along.

As usual the Apollo cabin was leading it. They were playing the song Sugar by Maroon 5. The only reason why I knew that was because I asked a random Demeter girl who apparently loved the song. I had to admit, it was pretty catchy. I smiled as I saw a group of about fifty Angels down in the theater singing along to the song. I was leaning up against a post when Luke walked up behind me. Mock-punching me in the arm, he laughed and said,

"I haven't seen the Angels have this much fun in decades. Was this your plan when you gave them so much free time, for them to mingle with the campers?

I replied,

"Yes that was exactly my plan. If we are going to fight a war together, we need to develop bonds. The Angels and campers are going to be spending a lot of time together. They will be training, fighting, and living together for a while. I thought it best to get them accustomed to each other sooner rather than later. I am pleased they are getting along so well."

Just then Aurora walked up. Luke put her arm around her and she smiled up at him. It was time to set the record straight with these two so I asked,

"Speaking of getting along so well, are you two ever going to admit your feelings for one another?"

Aurora blushed a deep crimson and Luke just smiled, he replied,

"We were actually just coming over here to tell you that we have. We consider ourselves a unit now. I don't know what the kids call it these days so we will stick with a unit."

I smiled and replied,

"I am happy for you two. It brings me a lot of joy to see that you have found ones that complete you…"

I trailed off because as I was speaking, I looked over to the big house where I saw Annabeth speaking with Chiron. They seemed to be speaking about something less than pleasant because they both had worried expressions on their faces. As I was staring, I made the decision, it was time to reveal myself to Annabeth. She was fading, and it was because of me.

Aurora looked to where my attention was and smiled. She looked back at me and said,

"Allistar its time."

I nodded my head and replied,

"Yes it is. I miss my Wise Girl and I fear she is fading quickly. Revealing myself might be the only thing now that can save her."

Hugging both of them, I turned back to where Annabeth and Chiron were speaking. Annabeth was now walking across the field towards the lake while Chiron stood somberly watching her walk away. Covering myself in a veil of shadow, I quickly followed her. She continued walking until she got to the beach, at which point she began walking farther back away from the camp.

After a few minutes of walking, she sat down on a relatively open area where you could see clearly out into the Long Island Sound. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She looked so frail, as I watched her beautiful form flickered momentarily. She winced in visible pain then went back to normal. I was horrified, it was like I was staring at the fading form of Pan again.

I could no longer stand it, I lifted the shadows and said,

"Hello Annabeth."

She looked up in surprise but when she saw who it was she relaxed a little bit. She pursed her lips, looked down and said,

"I am afraid this may be the last time we speak Allistar."

I nodded my head and replied,

"I have heard of your situation. How are you feeling?"

She scoffed and said,

"That was something Percy would ask, here I am clearly in pain and you ask me how I am."

She said it jokingly but I could tell she truly did think it foolish to ask a question like that. I guess I couldn't blame her. My heart ached for her, after I was banished I was broken. My world seemed to be ending, but at least I had Chaos, at least I had my friends. My Wise Girl had nobody, and it looked like it was finally getting the best of her.

"Allistar, why do you care so much about me? Everybody else treats me like an antique, something that used to be beautiful and used to have value, but has lost its beauty. I feel like I belong on a shelf, doomed to collect dust for eternity. How could you possibly care about somebody like me? I am nothing."

Allistar almost laughed. She had no idea how wrong she was. She was absolutely everything. He replied,

"Annabeth I am drawn to people like you. People who are happy, people who have it together do not seem to interest me. I feel an almost magnetic attraction to those who are downtrodden. I look at you and see beauty, but I see sadness. I care so much about you because Percy cared about. I try to honor him by helping you any way that I can."

Annabeth again scoffed but replied,

"Well unless you have the power to stop immortals from fading, you can't help me. At this point only one person could help me. I don't think he will be showing up so I have accepted my fate."

Wrong again, Allistar wasn't used to this: Wise Girl being wrong twice in such a short period of time. Annabeth continued,

"After he… left, we searched for him. We scoured the earth, the sea, and the underworld for any trace of him. We never found him, the only piece of him we found was this…"

She reached in her pocket and pulled out an out friend. It was cracked down the middle and looked like it had been through the wringer, but it was still intact. Allistar stared down at his faithful weapon: Riptide in pen form. Truly amazed he said,

"The weapon of Percy Jackson."

Annabeth smiled sadly and replied,

"Yes it is my most prized possession. We found it in an alley in downtown New York. It seems the magic died when he was banished though. It is badly damaged and nobody has been able to use it. Not even Poseidon could activate it."

She looked sadly at me and said,

"This will soon be without an owner. Before I go I want to know that it will be taken care of. It is the last piece of my Percy, and it deserves to be handled with care. I fear it won't be much use, but it is old and precious beyond measure. It deserves more than to be forgotten."

It was time. As she handed the pen to me I rubbed the pen and smiled. I had missed this sword, Riptide and I had been through so much. This would no longer sit broken and useless, it was time to be remade, just like Poseidon had been. So standing up, I grasped it, and removed the cap. At once a shining light came forth as the blade recognized its owner. I surged energy into it and the blade straightened, sharpened, and glowed with the new life it had been given. I smiled even wider as I began twirling the sword around and squeezing it one last time, looked down at Annabeth.

To say she was shocked would be an understatement. Tears were streaming down her face, her eyes were wide, and her mouth was agape. She tried to speak,

"How… it has never…"

She shook her head and trembling she whispered,

"I have not seen that sword since… since"

I lowered my hood, removed my mask and said,

"Hey Wise Girl."

At first she showed no reaction. She simply stared at me. After five solid minutes, she slowly got up and limped over to me, gods she was in bad shape. When she got to within a foot of me, she slowly lifted her hand. Her soft hand reached my face and caressed it, then she lifted her other hand and began doing the same with it. She felt my cheek, my nose, she ran her hands through my hair: touching every part of me she could as if to verify that I was real. She gulped and tried but failed to say something that sounded like my name.

I smiled and for the first time in centuries, I felt true happiness. She was everything to me and she was standing right in front of me touching my face. I lifted my hands and put them on hers. She again attempted to speak and succeeded this time saying,

"Percy? Are you really here?"

Tears fell down my face as I answered almost giddy,

"Yes I'm here."

And with that I placed my hands around her face, pulled it to me, and kissed her.

She initially showed no reaction, but apparently realizing that I was truly here, she began to kiss me back. It was the best kiss of my life. Even though we both were crying all over each other, I felt alive. We must have kissed for a good five minutes when I slowly pulled back.

I was amazed at what happened as I pulled back. Before my eyes, she began to glow. Her formerly dull eyes began to shine their old steely gray. Her hair regained its wonderful blonde color and the most beautiful smile I had ever seen formed on her face.

She had been remade. The sorrow that had been on her face just minutes ago was replaced by shining joy and beauty. She laughed and unbelievable, the laugh of little boy Chaos just could not compare. She bounded forward and hugging me tightly she said,

"Seaweed brain!"

Hugging her tightly I felt whole, free, anchored. She smelled wonderful, I kissed the top of her head as she put her head against my chest. She said,

"Gods of Olympus Percy I love you."

I smiled and replied,

"I love you too Wise Girl. I have missed you so much."

She nodded into my chest as we stood there just enjoying the company of one another. After a little while she raised her head to look at my face and she kissed me again. After a few more minutes of blissful enjoyment, we broke apart. We stared at each other for a little while then both laughed, overwhelmed by the enormity of our happiness. Pulling ourselves together she said,

"Now that I know you are Allistar, everything makes sense. Why you care so much about me, your desire to help others, how well you handled that little girl on Olympus. You haven't changed at all."

Oh she had no idea. My personality might not have changed, but physically I couldn't be any more different from the old me. I cocked my head to the side and got a sly smile on my face as I said,

"You would be surprised Annabeth. You must have a million questions for me."

She smiled and nodded her head replying,

"I do, to start, how have you changed?"

I imagined soaring over a sun, flying into and back out of a black hole, and exploring distant planets all with Annabeth at my side. But I knew that was for later, if she would accept, I was going to ask her to come with me back to Genesis. Now that we were re-united, nothing would be strong enough to separate us ever again. I still wanted to show her how much I had changed physically. So holding out my hand I asked,

"Why don't you let me show you instead?"

Without hesitation she took hold of my hand. I slung her onto my back, and crouched down. Any fears that she must have had at not knowing what I had in store must have been over shadowed by her trust in me. Her weight was nothing and suddenly I shot like a rocket into open air.


	18. A goddess restored

(I was listening to the song Landslide by Fleetwood Mac while writing this so if you want to get the full effect of this scene listen to that song while reading this.)

-Earlier that night-

-Annabeth POV-

"My dear Annabeth, I fear you may not have much longer. You are quickly fading."

I looked down in acceptance, for years I had tried to deny the fact that I was fading. But it seemed now that it was really happening. I nodded my head and looked back up at Chiron with tears in my eyes. I needed to know if my suspicions were true so I asked my ancient teacher,

"Chiron, is it because he left? Has this been inevitable since the day he left?"

"Child, we both know that a situation like this has never happened. Pan is the only god I have heard of fading, and that was after his realm all but disappeared. But if I had to guess, I would say his exile decided your fate."

My eyes stung as tears fell down my face. I asked the question I didn't really want to know the answer to,

"How… how long?"

A tear fell down Chiron's face as he answered,

"At this rate, you may have a day, maybe hours left."

I tried to smile and nodded my head. I looked up at him and said,

"Goodbye Chiron. You have always been like a father to me. Thank you."

And with that I turned around, I could not bear any more final words. If I was going to fade then I would welcome it. Not that I could experience true happiness, but the idea of having no more pain almost made me happy. I had no idea what my future held, maybe there was a singular God and I would meet Him. Maybe I would be reborn as somebody else, or maybe I would just cease to exist. Either way it was better than living in a world without hope.

I walked through the camp that I loved so much and thought about the old days. I thought about Luke and Thalia bringing me here. I thought about all the years spent training waiting for a quest. But mostly I thought about Percy. All the times I wanted to punch him, all the frustration, and the dim-witted comments. But more than that, all the hugs, the kisses, the conversations. I thought about the short time we had together, and the day he took my heart with him when he left.

Arriving at the beach, I decided to take a walk along the beach. It was dark and water and night scared me, but I walked anyway. After a little while I sat down because I was feeling sore. Being cold I pulled my knees up to my chest and tried to warm myself up. Then all of a sudden a sharp pain dug through my body. I winced in pain and when I opened my eyes I could see my body flickering. Wow, I must have even less time than I thought. A voice from the shadows suddenly said,

"Hello Annabeth."

I jumped a little and looked up to see who was there, out of nowhere Allistar appeared. When I saw him I felt a little better, I had spoken to him before and didn't mind him being the last person I talked to. I may as well tell him I won't be here soon so looking down I said,

"I am afraid this may be the last time we speak Allistar."

Not that we had spoken often, I was just regretting it because It was the last time I could hear about Percy.

He nodded his head and replied,

"I have heard of your situation. How are you feeling?"

What a stupid question to ask. Here I am literally fading, and he has the nerve to ask me how I am. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that was something Percy would say. Normally I would never compare anybody to Percy, it was just unfair towards whoever he was being compared to. But seeing as how for some reason I trusted Allistar and knew I was about to be gone anyway, I decided to tell him.

"That was something Percy would ask, here I am clearly in pain and you ask me how I am."

I shook my head and thought about something. Normally when people met me or saw me they really weren't interested in speaking to me. Depending on my mood I either depressed or intimidated them. But Allistar seemed neither intimidated nor depressed, so there must be a reason why he chooses to deal with me. Curiosity got the better of me as I asked,

"Allistar, why do you care so much about me? Everybody else treats me like an antique, something that used to be beautiful and used to have value, but has lost its beauty. I feel like I belong on a shelf, doomed to collect dust for eternity. How could you possibly care about somebody like me? I am nothing."

Although I couldn't see his face, I heard something that sounded awfully like a snort, as if what I said was funny. He replied,

"Annabeth I am drawn to people like you. People who are happy, people who have it together do not seem to interest me. I feel an almost magnetic attraction to those who are downtrodden. I look at you and see beauty, but I see sadness. I care so much about you because Percy cared about. I try to honor him by helping you any way that I can."

I'm pretty sure he just called me a train wreck, but deciding to let that go I said,

"Well unless you have the power to stop immortals from fading, you can't help me. At this point only one person could help me. I don't think he will be showing up so I have accepted my fate."

It was true, I hated it and wished it were different and that Percy would somehow show up and save me, but I knew it was true.

I shifted my weight and felt something in my pocket, it was Riptide. I was about to do something so difficult I just wanted to get it over with. But I wanted it to be cherished, not forgotten. So with the purpose of giving a near-complete stranger my most prized possession I said,

"After he… left, we searched for him. We scoured the earth, the sea, and the underworld for any trace of him. We never found him, the only piece of him we found was this…"

I brought out the cracked, broken pen. Allistar looked at it and said in wonder,

"The weapon of Percy Jackson."

The weapon of my seaweed brain. The idea of it protecting him on so many occasions made me smile. I replied,

"Yes it is my most prized possession. We found it in an alley in downtown New York. It seems the magic died when he was banished though. It is badly damaged and nobody has been able to use it. Not even Poseidon could activate it."

Poseidon had been distraught when he failed to activate it. Mother told me to give it to Poseidon, but he told me to keep it as a memory to his son. For that I have respected the sea god ever since and would have liked thank him before fading, but it seemed he had gone into exile similarly to Percy, only his was not forced on him. I said,

"This will soon be without an owner. Before I go I want to know that it will be taken care of. It is the last piece of my Percy, and it deserves to be handled with care. I fear it won't be much use, but it is old and precious beyond measure. It deserves more than to be forgotten."

I forced myself to give the pen to Allistar, the last time I would touch of piece of Percy.

Allistar took it and rubbed it as if it were made of gold. Then he did something that caught me off guard, he jumped up and removed the cap.

What happened next literally took me full minutes to accept.

At once the blade sprang out just like it had done so many times before. It was bent coming out but a bright light engulfed it and the blade straightened out. It looked wickedly sharp and as the light died I was without words.

I tried to speak but all they came out was gibberish.

Tears were practically running down my face, I shook my head a few times and was finally able to say,

"I have not seen that sword since… since."

Percy…

Allistar threw off his hood, removed his mask and said,

"Hey Wise Girl."

For the first time in my life, I could not form a single thought. I was staring at the most perfect face I'd ever seen. His eyes were the exact same perfect shade of sea green. His black hair was as untidy as ever. I felt like I was staring into the sun, even though it was dark, I felt like my entire existence was being lit up by this perfect face.

After what seemed like an eternity, I struggled to my feet and began hobbling over to him through the pain that was in every inch of my fading body. I got to him and lifted my hand to touch his face. His skin was soft, yet hard as a rock. I rubbed my hand down his face and lifting my other hand, began memorizing the contours of his face. I rubbed his hair and tried to speak but again, just gibberish.

He smiled and my heart sang. Every cell in my body was rejoicing and finally being able to speak said,

"Percy? Are you really here?"

Part of my mind rejected it. Rejected the idea that my seaweed brain was back.

Tears began to run down his face as he replied,

"Yes I'm here."

Finishing his reply, he took my face in his hands and placed his lips on mine.

The moment they touched, a fire started in my heart. It was not unpleasant, but I could feel the heat as it spread to the rest of my body. I began to kiss him back and the fire intensified. It then turned into a floating sensation and I broke apart and almost fell backwards. Backing up slightly from him, my body began to glow. The pain disappeared, and all I felt was joy and bliss.

I had forgotten what it was to feel. The song 'Feel Again' by One Republic came to mind as I felt like I was living the song. I literally could feel again, the numbness that gripped my heart was gone, and I felt completely whole.

I knew I was no longer fading, I had been made new. Just like Riptide, Percy had come back and had once again saved me. Joy exploded inside of me and I bounded to Percy, grabbed him in a tight hug and said,

"Seaweed brain!"

He hugged me back and I felt like everything would be okay. I felt like the world could have ceased to exist and I wouldn't have noticed. It was just Percy and I. Overwhelmed by love I said,

"Gods of Olympus Percy I love you."

He replied,

"I love you too Wise Girl. I have missed you so much."

I didn't want to ruin the echo of his perfect voice by speaking so I just nodded my head. After just standing there for a while, I pulled back and kissed him. I had a long time of no kissing to make up for so was not ashamed that we must have been kissing for a good five minutes. Pulling back, we both laughed at the impossibility of the situation. I thought about Allistar, and everything clicked into place. I understood why I trusted Allistar so much. I said,

"Now that I know you are Allistar, everything makes sense. Why you care so much about me, your desire to help others, how well you handled that little girl on Olympus. You haven't changed at all."

He got a mischievous smile on his face and slightly turned his head saying,

"You would be surprised Annabeth. You must have a million questions for me."

I replied,

"I do, to start, how have you changed"

He seemed to think about that for a few seconds before answering,

"Why don't you let me show you instead?"

He held out his hand and immediately I took it. His hand was warm as it conformed about mine. I had no idea what he was going to show me but as long as I was with him, I didn't care. He pulled me close and threw me on his back. Excitement building up inside of me, I smiled at the pure bliss of this moment. Percy crouched down for a moment just before shooting into the sky with me on his back.

-Line break-

When we touched back down in the middle of camp, everybody had gone to sleep. He gently pulled me off his back and set me down in front of him before enveloping me in a hug.

I wrapped my arms around him and just breathed in the amazing smell of the sea on his skin, the beaches of the world couldn't do justice to the real thing.

He pulled back and looked nervous for some reason. Confused I asked,

"What is it Percy, are you alright?"

He smiled and replied,

"A little better than alright. There has been something that for five hundred years I have wished I could do. I see no point in waiting so…"

With that he got down onto one knee and my heart stopped. He was proposing. Still smiling he said,

"Annabeth Chase, nobody but you has ever held my heart. You are a very real piece of me and I have finally been reunited with you. I swear on the name of Chaos to love you until time ends and beyond. I will be loyal, supportive, and loving to you every moment of every day. Annabeth, would you make me literally the happiest person in the universe by saying you will marry me?"

I was not expecting this, but there was no hesitation, no thinking, there was only confidence. I smiled and said,

"Yes seaweed brain."

His face lit up and he picked me up and twirled me in a circle. Protesting and slapping his arm, he set me down but kept me close to him. We shared a few more minutes of blissful kissing before I said,

"Percy as much as I would love this night to last forever, its late and we need to go to bed. I can't bear the thought of being apart from you for a moment…"

I trailed off because I knew mother would never approve of us sleeping in the same room. We had every intention of saving ourselves for marriage, but I needed to be able to make sure he was still here if I woke up tonight. He just smiled and replied,

"I think I can summon up a couch and you can sleep on my bed tonight."

I was so glad we were on the same page, obviously we would not do anything dishonorable, but we both needed to be close to each other even in sleep. He held out his arm and as I touched it we were suddenly in a large room with an over-sized bed, a pull out couch, and several other sitting couches. I assume this must be his chambers. He smiled at me and pulled me in for one more hug. After a few minutes we broke apart and shared one more kiss. He then said,

"If you wake up tonight, I will be right here. Don't be afraid to wake me up."

I smiled and replied,

"Same for you seaweed brain."

I turned around and slipped into the bed, it was warm, comfortable, and smelled like Percy. I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the smell of the sea. For the first time in five hundred years, I looked forward to the next day.


	19. Percy & Annabeth

-Annabeth POV-

Before opening my eyes when I woke up, I took a deep breath. I was expecting to be in my bed back on Olympus, and for the whole night before to be a dream. But the smell I breathed in was not a floral smell like my bed. I breathed in and smelled the amazing and familiar scent of the sea. "Percy" I thought as I took in another deep breath and smiled almost giddily at the scent of my seaweed brain. Pulling the covers down from my neck, I got up and looked over to the couch. There he was… I was so happy last night wasn't a dream I wanted to cry. Jumping out of bed, I heard an all too familiar sound, Percy was snoring softly in his sleep. As I approached him, I could see a little bit of droll under his mouth.

I leaned down and got right up to his face. He amazingly didn't have morning breath and I found myself almost memorized by the amazing smell of his sea breath. Closing my eyes and breathing it in, I was surprised when two arms closed around me from behind. Opening them suddenly, I found Percy was no longer on the couch, but behind me with me in his embrace. Wondering how he got behind me I asked,

"Percy how did you do that?"

He squeezed me tight before releasing me and twirling me in a circle then pulling me back into his arms. He replied,

"Comes with being the son of Chaos, I can teleport anywhere I want. It just so happened that I wanted to surprise you. I have to ask, why were you looking at me like I was something to eat?"

He smiled even wider as I burst into a fit of giggles. I answered through laughs,

"Your breath kind of… smells amazing…"

He made a face, clearly weirder out but realizing that I was just that enamored with him. He smiled and suddenly took a deep breath and blew it into my face. Although it did smell good, it blew my hair back and I recoiled while laughing. He smiled down at me and for a moment I just drank in the fact that he was here, my seaweed brain was back. I asked,

"You're really here aren't you?"

His smile became incredibly sweet as he kissed me, pulled back and replied,

"Yes Wise Girl I am really here. And I promise nothing will ever separate us again. I won't let it."

I didn't doubt it for a second, I had not yet seen the extent of his power, but being right below Chaos, I knew nothing short of Chaos himself could overpower Percy. That made me think of something I had not yet considered. So I asked,

"Percy, please don't misunderstand, but if you really are the son of Chaos and just below him in terms of power, why don't you just wipe away the enemy? Again please don't think I am doubting you or Chaos, but why bring the army?"

His smile shrunk a little as we discussed something a little more serious than his amazing breath. He pursed his lips and replied,

"Don't worry, I am not offended, it's a good question. It's true, in terms of power, I am just below Chaos, but I am limited in ways the enemy is not. As heir to the Universe, I must obey the Laws of Chaos."

Never hearing of these I asked,

"What are the Laws of Chaos?"

He answered,

"There are laws that Chaos laid down when he created the Universe. There are three rules he and I must abide by. The first and foremost rule is that we can never by any means force somebody to do something. I believe Christians call it free will. Being near omnipotent, we have the ability, but Chaos knew in the beginning that if he forced his creation to bend to his will, they would be no more than slaves, mindless robots obeying a dictator."

I replied,

"That makes sense, I assume that is why there is evil in the universe, because Chaos gave people a choice, and some choose evil?

He nodded and replied,

"Exactly, I see you are as smart as ever Wise Girl. Unfortunately so many people choose evil. The second law of Chaos is that the natural level of evil in the universe must never exceed the natural level of good. The nature of the universe affects the nature of Chaos. A morally good universe results in a morally good Chaos and a bad universe results in a bad Chaos. If that natural level of the universe were swayed towards evil, Chaos would begin to turn evil. It is something that can never happen because if it did, all life would suffer."

I asked,

"So that is why you fight so hard? You know you can never beat evil, but you must hold it in check so that the creator does not turn evil?"

He smiled and replied,

"Right again Annabeth. The third and final Law says that we can use our full power in three instances: when the natural level of the universe is close to turning evil, when an ancient law is broken, and the result of not using our power will result in a great loss of either life, matter, or something a great importance to the user. For example, if Kronos were about to kill you and I alone could stop it, I would be allowed under the Laws of Chaos to use the full extent of my power. But if I merely came across Kronos while he was not doing something evil, my power would be limited."

Curiosity, not the desire for knowledge prompted my next question,

"How much is your power limited when you aren't able to fully use it?"

That threw him, he pursed his lips and after thinking for a few second replied,

"If I had to compare my limited power to an immortal, I would be on about even footing with the primordial Chronos. At my most powerful I am barely below Chaos. If I had to I could defeat most of the others gods, titans, and primordials combined power."

I was stunned, his weakest form could go toe to toe with the strongest primordial at his best. The last time I had seen him he had been powerful, but in terms of demi-gods. Now he was more powerful then all of the immortals I had ever met put together. If anybody else had that much power, I would be terrified of them, but this was Percy.

So trying to organize his answer I asked,

"So what you're saying is that if the enemies plan was to kill me, you could simply wipe them out with a wave of your hand?"

He laughed and replied,

"Well no, it would me a minute to be able to gather that much power, only Chaos could wipe away a host that powerful with such little effort. I would also have to wait until they were literally about to kill you, but yes. If their goal was to kill you, I could use my full power."

I said,

"So with them threatening Olympus, why can't you use your full power?"

He replied,

"I will go through the instances so you understand. Firstly, the natural level of the universe is far from turning evil so that does not give me the right to. Secondly, they are breaking no ancient laws. An immortal may not directly challenge a mortal without breaking the ancient law. But the fact that that the enemy is attacking immortals who just so happen to have mortals among their ranks gives them the right to do so. It is a technicality don't get me wrong, but the law is the law. And thirdly, the plan of the enemy is to only kill the gods and their allies. That will result in a loss of life, but an entire planet would have to be threatened to be counted as a great enough loss of life for us to intervene. Again, a technicality, but the Law is there for a reason, we can speak about those reasons another time because Angel training begins in five minutes and the Commander must be there."

With that, he leaned down to kiss me one more time then turned around and walked to his wardrobe. I turned away as he changed and when he was finished I turned around. He was wearing the exact same outfit I had seen Allistar wear when they first showed up, his helmet at his side. His shining armor lit up the room and the two black circles looked even more menacing this close up. I instinctively backed up from them, I felt like they were somehow staring at me. He noticed and smiled apologetically saying,

"I am sorry Wise Girl."

With that he threw on a cloak that covered the circle and rotated the helmet. I was very curious as to what the two black circles were so I asked,

"What exactly are those? And why do I feel scared simply at the sight of them?"

Percy made an indecisive face and replied,

"My armor represents the two sides of Chaos, Creation, and the void. The shining armor represents the brightened realm of Creation. The two black circles represent the formless void. We don't have time to go over it right now. But after training and then revealing myself to the rest of them, I would like to talk with you and the leaders about it. They know some of the story but not all of it. Plus you must be dying of curiosity."

He said the last part with a sly smile. He knew me so well even after all this time. It made me happy that he was going to reveal himself to everybody else. So ready to see Percy in action, or rather Allistar in action I said,

"Yes I am dying of curiosity but I understand you have duties. I am excited to see the Angels train. When do the campers begin?

"Tomorrow," he replied.

And with that he flashed us back to the big house.


	20. Training Preparations

-3rd Person POV-

At 0559 hours, the Angels of Chaos were in uniform and in formation awaiting the arrival of the Commander. The six thousand Angels and six Leaders stood at ease in the field between the dining pavilion and the strawberry fields. Despite the fact that it was early in the morning, and almost none of the campers were usually up this early, half the campers sat in various areas around the army waiting to see the greatest army in history train with the greatest warrior in history.

At 0600 hours exactly, Annabeth Chase walked out from under the big house porch and took her place among some other minor gods who had turned out to watch. Nobody seemed to notice the fact that she looked like a new goddess, but she was fine with that. She wanted to wait until Percy revealed himself to let everybody know that she had been essentially given a new life.

Out of nowhere, a pure white lightning bolt stuck the spot just in front of the Leaders and a bright light followed. When the light died down, the Commander stood there in his full uniform outfit. Allistar looked up to the army as Slade shouted,

"Attention."

At once the Angels snapped into attention and said,

"Commander."

Allistar bowed his head in greeting and said back,

"Good morning my friends, at ease."

The Angels went back to their casual stance and removed their helmets, awaiting orders from Allistar. The campers couldn't help but be impressed at the well-oiled machine that the Angels were. Annabeth conjured up a bottle of water and stared at Allistar.

Allistar began walking through the ranks of the Angels and started giving out orders for the day,

"My friends tomorrow we began camp training, but today we will be our last day of field training for a while. Today will be Circuit 1. I will not be supervising today, I have business with the camp to attend to. After training the rest of the day will be recreational time. I suggest you take advantage of that time because starting tomorrow we will be training eight hours a day, six days a week to prepare the camp for the coming war. At any point during training some of you may be called away on duty. I will designate external assignments upon receiving them from Lord Chaos. Any questions?"

After a second of silence a hand went up from the back right of the army, one of the Angels from Zeta squad. Allistar regarded the Angel and said in a polite tone,

"Alexandra, you have a question?"

Alexandra put her hand down and asked,

"Commander all respect to you, but why are we taking a day off from training? Would it not benefit us to train every day to prepare the camp as well as possible?"

Allistar nodded and replied,

"Alexandra you honor me by your commitment to excellence, you are truly an asset to this army."

Clearly happy from the compliment from the Commander, she smiled and looked down in embarrassment. Allistar continued,

"You came from a society of warriors, training and combat is the way you were raised along with many other Angels. The members of this camp train its true, but they have not yet been exposed to our way of doing things. They will struggle to adapt to our ways, they will need more time to recover and mentally prepare themselves for the training we partake of. For this reason we will devote one day a week to rest and relaxation. Do you understand?"

She smiled and nodded her head. Several other Angels looked less confused now as well. Allistar added,

"Any other questions?"

A few more seconds a silence passed and Allistar said,

"Dismissed."

The Angels snapped into attention and replied,

"Yes Commander."

And with that they dispersed into squads to begin field training.

Allistar planned to call a meeting in the theatre with all of his allies. It was time to reveal himself to everybody else, and he wanted to go over the details of exactly what kind of training the camp and the gods had in store. Walking over to where the campers and minor gods were he said,

"At eight o'clock I would like everybody including the gods at the theater for a briefing. We will be discussing training a bit more in detail than yesterday. Please let everybody else know."

The campers jumped up and ran to their respective cabins to tell their sleeping siblings. All of the minor gods excluding Annabeth flashed to Olympus to inform the rest of the gods. Annabeth merely stayed where she was as everybody left.

When everybody else had gone off to perform their various duties, Annabeth stood up and walked slowly to Allistar. He stood there and waited for her. When she got to him, she put her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. Smiling, he did the same and they just stood there for a while, enjoying the fact that they were together again.

-Line break-

At eight o'clock, the host of Olympus was all gathered in the theatre. It was filled to the brim but the gods had expanded it so that it could hold everyone. As everybody was chattering away about the coming training, Allistar walked out from behind the theatre and made his way to the stage. As he walked to the center, he bowed his head at Annabeth then with a wave of his hand conjured a rose for her which flew to her hand. This display of affection made her blush and caused some confused looks from the rest of the audience.

Allistar stopped at the center, seemed to take a deep breath, and removed his mask.

The reaction was exactly what Annabeth and Percy expected. There were shouts of, "Percy!" to "he's back." The present members of the seven that defeated Gaea all jumped up and ran to Percy. Thalia also who was away with Artemis jumped up and ran to the stage. With these people and others all trying to get to Percy, the stage was all but mob rushed. Seeing this, Percy inclined his head and an invisible wall of energy formed around the stage. The people were pushed back and some looked offended, others realized that their reaction had been out of place.

Percy smiled and said,

"Hello everybody, I would love to speak with each and every one of you, but we need to cover some things before informal conversations can begin."

Everybody went back to their seats, Poseidon was staring at Percy was tears in his eyes. Thalia was beaming at Percy and the remaining heroes of the second great prophecy were all smiling sadly at him. Percy cleared his throat and said,

"Now, as you all know, camp training begins tomorrow at 0700 hours. We will be training eight hours and day, six days a week. The Angels will be training the campers, the Leaders will be training the minor gods, and I will be training the Olympians. The only exception to that is Annabeth will be training with the Olympians and I. So that you know what you will be doing for the next few months, I am going to give you an overview of how Angels training works as this is essentially how you will be training."

The audience looks at each other excitedly before looking back at Allistar. He continued,

"There are six squads that comprise the Angels of Chaos: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Eta, and Zeta. Each one focuses on a specific military discipline. Alpha uses dual swords. Beta uses a spear and a shield. Gamma uses axes. Epsilon uses bow and arrows. Eta uses war hammers. And Zeta uses dual hunting knives. Each of you will choose one squad to train with for the duration of our stay. I realize some of you wish to learn more than one, but to maximize your ability in the time we have, you must choose one. Every day we will train using one of three circuits comprised of six sessions of different areas of war, then followed by a double session of weapon training. With me so far?

Most of the audience smiled nodded their heads. A few looked like they were upset they couldn't train with multiple weapons, but said nothing. Percy continued,

"Good. There are 18 areas of war we cover during the first six hours or training. You will not be expected to remember them all and I will post a list of them in the dining pavilion. But just to get them in your head I will say them. They include, battle tactics, diplomacy, hunting/gathering, medical skills, mental and physiological endurance, strength, speed, agility, individual power skills, sense improvement, camouflage, natural skills, the history of war, team battle tactics, team effort, proactive battle thinking, defense training, and offense training."

The audience again looked excited and continued to listen,

"Circuit 1 includes strength, speed, agility, sense improvement, natural skills, and the history of war. Circuit 2 is battle tactics, team battle tactics, proactive battle thinking, team effort, camouflage, and individual power skills. Circuit 3 includes, diplomacy, hunting/gathering, medical skills, mental and physiological endurance, defense training, and offense training. Again the six sessions will then be followed by weapon training. Any questions?"

Nobody in the audience raised their hands, they all seemed to understand how things were going to work. The exception were some Aphrodite girls who were staring at Percy like they would rather do anything else than train the way Percy was saying they would be. Percy shook his head, chuckled and said,

"Each of you will be expected to give your best effort. Those who are unable will obviously not be held accountable. But any who have the ability and refuse will have to answer to me. The future of earth is dependent on our victory, and I will not tolerate laziness. We do not expect you to be able to keep up with us, I promise you each and every Angel will be respectful and helping. Do not however presume to take advantage of that fact. You will train hard and by the time we take our leave, no army of monster will be able to defeat you. Thank you, you are dismissed."

-Line break-

After over an hour of greetings, introductions, and reunions with lost friends, Percy spotted Annabeth and everything else disappeared. He walked through the crowd, came up behind her and grabbed her in a hug. She immediately tried to kick Percy in the groin from instinct, but stopped when Percy kissed her cheek. She laid her head back on his shoulder and they shared a few second kiss. As they broke apart, they smiled at each other and just held eachother as if the rest of the people didn't exist. Percy then said,

"I promised to tell you about my life up until now, and I plan to deliver."

She stuck her tongue at him and replied,

"Yes you did, plus I would love to have some time alone with you seaweed brain. Your room?

Percy pursed his lips, thinking about showing Annabeth his real room back in Genesis and possibly meeting Chaos. They had until tonight, but thought better of it. Annabeth would never want to come back after experiencing Genesis. She would want to stay and learn, and explore. That could wait until later. So finally answering he said,

"How about yours? I would like to see your home. We have until the Angels finish training. "

Annabeth sighed and looked down. She seemed reluctant to take Percy home. She looked up and answered,

"Percy these last years have been rough. I spent very little time at home and even when I did, it was only to sleep. You may be grossed out or think less of me when you see it."

Percy held her face, looked in straight in the eyes and said,

"Annabeth you are my life, I understand you have been through a lot and I would never for a second judge you. Please show me your home."

She nodded her head slowly and replied,

"Alright fine. But just don't think I am pathetic when you see."

With that she flashed them both to her house on Olympus. Annabeth was right, the past few centuries had been rough. It was obvious from the state of her house. They were suddenly on Olympus close to the elevator. Being a minor goddess, she was not granted the honor of living close to the throne room. Her house was by itself, at the end of an alley that was about fifty yards from the edge of Olympus. They appeared out front and Annabeth was immediately embarrassed.

The house had once been a beautiful one-story cottage, but had withered and crumbled since Annabeth had taken up residence there. There was ivy growing on the side, the front door had fallen off, and the paint on the exterior looked like it had long peeled off. Annabeth leaned into Percy and he put his arms around her and held her close. She looked up and said,

"The inside isn't any better. I never bothered using the front door, I just flashed to my bedroom."

Percy smiled sadly at her, kissed her shortly, and pulled her through the front gate. Walking through the front door, Percy agreed with her, the inside was also bad. There was very little light coming through the shades. Dust covered literally every corner of the house. Annabeth looked down in shame but Percy pulled her face up to look at him saying,

"Annabeth if you don't want to be here we can leave and go to my chambers. There is no need for you to ever come here, I would be happy for you to stay in the Chaos cabin. There is an extra room just down the hall from my room and you would be very comfortable. I would offer for you to stay with me in my chambers, but that can wait until after we are married."

She smiled brightly at him and said,

"I would love that Percy. Mother might want to make sure we aren't sleeping in the same room, but staying in the Chaos cabin sounds awesome, plus I could be very close to you."

He beamed at her and pulled her back outside. Before leaving however, Annabeth turned around and stared once more at the house. Percy asked,

"Is something wrong Wise Girl?"

Annabeth replied,

"I don't want there to be any evidence of my life without you."

With that she waved her hand and the house was gone, any trace of her prison was wiped away. Percy walked in front of her and snapped his fingers. Instantly a large fountain appeared. It was made of marble and atop the fountain stood Percy and Annabeth hugging and staring into each other's eyes. On the side there were depictions of all of their friends and all the adventures they had shared. It was beautiful, and a much more merry sight than the dilapidated shack it had replaced. They took one last look at the fountain and flashed away to Percy's room.


	21. Percy's past

-Annabeth POV-

Away from my former prison on Olympus and back in Percy's room, I was able to relax. Just being back at the place I had spent so much time crying, yelling, breaking things, and missing Percy made me want to run away. Looking up at Percy, I saw that he was smiling down at me with an expression of absolute adoration. I looked into his beautiful sea green eyes and realized for the first time that there were subtle spots of white and black in them. If I had not been less than a foot away I would have never noticed, but being this close to them, there were hard to miss. I tilted my head to the side in confusion and asked,

"Percy why do you have specks of color in your eyes?"

He laughed and replied,

"That comes with the story I am about to tell you. Have a seat Wise Girl."

I sat down on one of the couches and he sat on the opposite edge of the same couch. We both leaned against the arm rests and he pursed his lips, probably wondering where to start. After a few moments of silence and me staring in awe at his perfect face he said,

"I suppose I should start at the beginning. After I was exiled I was on the run for a little while. My last few moments on earth were in that alley you found Riptide in. I was about to be killed by a group of monsters when Chaos showed up, killed them all, and gave me the choice to remain on earth or to go with him. No longer having any ties to earth, I gladly accepted. He took me to two realms so that I could turn into the person I am now. The first was the Realm of Creation…

\- Line break -

A couple hours later, Percy had finished his story and we were now laying on his bed together. I now knew just exactly what Percy was. My fiancé had complete control over all matter in the universe and controlled a formless space called the Void that just so happened to be the prison of Order: the corrupter of the universe and brother of Chaos. Percy had explained that most of Angels had been people he saved from various forms of oppression. Alexandra, the girl who had asked about the day off had been saved by Percy from a bounty hunter in sector 5. She had grown up on a planet of female warriors and one of her rivals in the upper ranks had wanted to eliminate her due to the upcoming officer elections. The rival had hired a famous bounty hunter to kill her but months later was shocked to find out that her bounty hunter had been killed and her rival had disappeared.

"She lost the election in the end and died a few decades later. But Alexandra was loyal, honorable, and devoted to excellence so she lived on as an Angel of Chaos," Percy had said.

Apparently Percy had saved Aurora: Leader of Beta squad. She had been dying in a street and Percy saved her, yet another person who owed their existence to my best friend. There were other stories or crazy ex-boyfriends, corrupt governments, and Angels being saved from exploding suns. All the stories ended the same, my Percy saving somebody he didn't know, and that person becoming eternally loyal and loving to Percy. I said in amazement,

"Earth is too small for you, not enough people to save and protect. You had to extend your sphere of compassion and goodness to the ends of existence."

He scoffed and shook his head replying,

"You make me out to be a saint, yet I have killed many."

Still after all this time he was so hard on himself. Even after saving billions he focused on the negative. I said,

"Percy you listen to me. I don't believe for a second that you have ever murdered anyone. Killing somebody in the name of justice and to save somebody is totally different from taking a life without reason."

He smiled slightly and nodded his head, succumbing to my reasoning.

He had told me about how he had been transformed when exposed to Creation and the Void…

"Creation was like the light and heat of a trillion suns all packed into one small space. As I evolved I began to see the Orbs of Existence. I began to see the sources of power for all beings that had supernatural abilities. Then came the Void. Annabeth Tartarus was nothing compared to the Void. I would have taken a lifetime in Tartarus over the time I spent in the Void."

I was shocked, I remember Tartarus as if he happened last week. It took months for the nightmares to stop. Not being able to imagine a place worse than Tartarus I asked,

"Gods Percy, what was it like?"

His eyes darkened lightly, and I don't mean figuratively, I mean literally. The black spots in his sea green eyes grew and for a moment all I could see was blackness, the green color I loved so much was gone. Slightly scared I asked,

"What was that?"

His eyes immediately went back to their sea green and he smiled apologetically saying,

"I'm sorry sweetie, the memory of the Void is not one I care to remember. The color of my eyes reflect my mood. If I am happy, they are a bright sea green as you have seen since revealing myself. If my mood is neutral they are a darker green. When I am angry or thinking about a terrible memory, they turn a horrible black color. And when I am using the full extent of my power, they turn dark purple. The Void is everything Creation is not. The Void is silent, and dark. Completely lacking of any light or sound. What's worse is the affect the Void has on your body, you feel like your very cells are being ripped apart violently. The Void is formless, so when there is an object in the Void, it tries to deform the object. Only four beings have ever experienced the Void. Chaos, but he was born partly from the Void. Order, who remains there in his eternal suffering. Myself, but Chaos was with me even though I didn't know it at the time. So even though I should have faded from existence, I endured to the point where I could survive without his aid. Lastly is the primordial Erebus. Long story short he caused the deaths of trillions in the Great Galactic War. His punishment was eternity in the Void. Chaos still feels his presence there so we know he continues to suffer."

Horrified at the idea of anybody being subjected to that kind of punishment for eternity I asked,

"Percy how could anybody deserve a fate such as that?"

He smiled and looked down saying,

"I had a similar reaction when Chaos told me that. But I will tell you what he told me. Imagine all of the pain, suffering, death, and evil that exists in the universe. Now imagine one singular being was responsible for all of it. Chaos created the universe to be perfect, no death, pain, or sadness. But when Order tainted creation, evil was formed. Every death, every time you felt pain, every betrayal, every form of evil can be traced back to Order. When you stop to think about what things would be like without his interference, the Void seems like the only justified punishment for such a being."

I was quiet for a moment, taking that in. I thought about all the deaths in history, the doubt, the sadness. It still didn't quite add up. That changed when the centuries of pain and suffering I had endured came back to me. I thought about the sleepless nights, the endless years spent crying. I tried to imagine a universe full of that pain, suddenly it make sense, it added up. I guess Order truly did deserve that fate. Percy added,

"As far as Erebus, he committed endless murder, rape, thievery, and other atrocities. His actions mirrored the actions of Order, just on a lesser scale. For that he was sentenced to the Void. I was hesitant to administer that punishment initially, but his lack of remorse and pleasure he exhibited forced my hand."

Percy stared into space for a few moments. I could only imagine what was going through his head. He had seen horrors beyond imagining while protecting the universe. I snuggled closer to him and rubbed his back. After being lost in memories, he looked over at the clock and made a sour face. He said,

"It is 1:50, the Angels will be finishing field training in ten minutes. I wish we could stay here longer, but I must address the soldiers."

I smiled and replied,

"It's alright, I understand you have duties other than to me. May I come with you?"

He pursed his lips and replied,

"Annabeth I have a very serious question to ask you."

I tilted me head and replied,

"What is it Percy?"

He looked down for a moment then looked back up and said,

"As heir to the throne of the universe, I will someday rule everything. This means that after the war is over, I must return to Genesis. My question is this: after the war, will you come with me?"

I laughed and grabbed his face and kissed him passionately. Pulling back I said,

"You complete seaweed brain, of course I will. We will be married soon and besides, I could not bear to be parted from you ever again. I will gladly come with you."

That seemed to make his day, he beamed at me and said,

"Thank you Wise Girl. I have been turning a thought over in my head and tonight I would like to consult Chaos about it. I have been thinking about creating a new squad in the Angels, an Omega squad. After the war, some of the campers will want to come back to Genesis with us. I cannot take them all, taking them all would leave camp without the necessary defenses. But the heroes of the second great prophecy, and Thalia will most likely want to join us. It will put our numbers above the usual six thousand. I would like to add a seventh squad, and I would like for you to be its leader."

I was stunned, putting the fact that this was Percy aside, the Commander of the greatest army in history was asking me to lead a new squad in said army. Being by Percy's side for eternity was my definition of a happy ending so naturally I wanted to. But I had doubts which I voiced to Percy.

"Percy you know that is the best thing that could happen to me. But I must be honest, I am neither worthy nor powerful enough to lead such a squad. I am merely a minor god."

Percy looked at me strangely, as if he was trying to understand why I refused. After a moment he said,

"Annabeth the Leaders of the Angels and myself began as demi-gods excluding Aurora who wasn't even the child of a divine being. None of us were powerful enough to rule the army of the Creator. But Chaos took us, and through training, divine gifts, and Chaos passing his essence into us, we were made strong enough to rule. It will be no different for you. As Allistar, Commander of the Angels of Chaos, I fully believe nobody could better lead the new squad than you. Of course I would want to wait until after the war to make this announcement."

I could not believe it. I went from being about to fade one day to being offered a place at the love of my eternity's side. I began to cry softly as I answered,

"Percy I would be overjoyed to accept. A place at your side forever is something I have thirsted for since the day I realized I loved you."

He smiled and after kissing me passionately said,

"Alright, time to go."

Both of us jumped up and within a second were both gone, on our way to address my future brothers and sisters.


	22. First Encounter

-Annabeth POV-

We appeared on the big house porch looking out over the assembled Angels who were standing at ease conversing with one another. Percy squeezed my hand and walked forward off the porch. I stayed back and watched as Luke shouted,

"Attention."

Each Angels snapped into attention in perfect unison, jeez I would have a lot of work to do if I wanted to be a co-leader of these amazing soldiers. Percy stopped a few feet from the army and bowed his head. He looked up smiling and said,

"At ease my friends."

The Angels smiled back at their beloved Commander and relaxed into a casual stance. Percy was silent for a moment then said,

"Alexandra of Zeta, Benjamin of Gamma, Revenac of Eta, Tiara of Beta, Issac of Alpha, Sarah of Zeta, front and center."

Six people fell out of formation and began making their way up to Percy. They stood in front of their respective squad Leaders facing Percy. They saluted him, stood at attention and said,

"Yes Commander?"

He first addressed the entirety of the army saying,

"As you know, training begins tomorrow. You dear Angels will be training the campers and nature spirits."

He then focused on the six standing in front of him,

"You six will be the head trainers. Tomorrow each camper and nature spirit will choose one squad to be trained by for the remainder of our stay here. They will accompany you in the war sessions, as well as the weapon session. You six are responsible for the successful training of the campers. I give you free reign over how to train the campers and should any issues arise during training you will bring said issues to me. Any questions?"

The six Angels looked at one another, smiled, and walked up to Percy. I wasn't sure what they were doing but smiled and laughed lightly when they enveloped Percy in a group hug.

The sense of fellowship these men and woman share is something I have never seen before. Even when I lived with my siblings in the Athena cabin we were never as close as these people seemed to be. There was such a bond between the soldiers and Percy, perhaps because he is the one many of them own their lives to. The bonds between the Angels themselves seem just as strong, as if any one of them would gladly lay down their life in defense of another. It made me happy that someday I would be a part of this community of brothers and sisters.

The six stepped back from Percy smiling and he just looked down in embarrassment. I shook my head and smiled, after so long he still couldn't get used to the fact that people adored him. He then said laughing,

"Alright, alright back in line."

After they had gone back to their spots, Percy took a deep breath and said,

"At the end of this war, some of the campers and spirits from this world will wish to join us. I plan on letting them. You all know what that means, we haven't had a squad reorganization in a few hundred years, but upon arrival to Genesis, you will be offered the chance to switch squads. If you wish to learn a new fighting discipline, you may freely switch. Also tonight, Lord Chaos and I will be discussing the prospect of a new squad. It will be called Omega Squad. I have already picked the leader and upon our return home this person will be made squad Leader and the troops wishing to join Omega squad will be re-assigned. Just wanted to get you guys thinking about that. Tomorrow morning report to this spot for camp training at 0800 hours. Until then, enjoy your free time. I love you all. Dismissed."

They moved back into attention and replied,

"Yes Commander."

They dispersed to take advantage of the remainder of the day. Many of them gave various forms of greetings and shows of affection to Percy, he smiled and talked briefly with them all. After about twenty minutes, only the Leader remained with Percy. Many of the Angels had gone away with campers, it made me happy to see that they were already developing friendships. I made my way to Percy and the Leaders.

Without warning, the six Leaders tensed and turned to face the north side of camp. Percy noticed it too but looked less concerned about whatever had caused their attention to shift. Luke said,

"Commander, enemies approach. Your orders?"

Percy looked down, pursed his lips and said,

"I'll deal with this. They merely want to talk. And if things turn violent, well I have been wanting to stretch my legs anyway. Accompany me regardless and in uniform."

They all replied,

"Yes Commander."

They each pressed a button on their wrist and immediately were back in their battle armor. Percy was gone, replaced with Allistar in all his glory and power. Allistar looked at me and snapped his fingers. I looked down and realized I could not see my body, I was invisible. I looked up in confusion. Allistar said,

"Sorry Wise Girl I can let them know who any of us are. Stay behind me and everything will be fine. I love you."

I was beginning to have a panic attack, I knew how powerful Percy was, but the idea of him being in danger made me want to cry. As if sensing this Allistar said,

"Don't worry sweetie. I promise everything will be fine. I love you."

I replied,

"I love you too."

With that Allistar and the Leaders made their way to the hill to approach whoever was coming. I walked quickly behind them and my skin itched for some reason, Allistar must have sensed my confusion because he looked back and said,

"I put a protective barrier around you. Nothing but Chaos or I could break through the layer of protection around your skin. Just in case."

After saying that he was silent. We stopped at top of the hill and saw four beings walking slowly towards us. My heart skipped a beat when I saw who it was.

Kronos, Hyperion, Atlas, and Oceanus all stopped at the bottom of the hill we were standing on. No less than twenty feet away from us stood the four most powerful titans.

Kronos stepped forward and said,

"We have been sent by our master to parley with you."

Allistar stepped forward as well, he must have been trying to intimidate the titans because as he walked the sky began to turn dark and lightning streaked across the sky. The three titans behind Kronos looked like they were trying not to act scared, but Kronos just ignored the lightning as if it wasn't ripping apart the sky. Allistar said,

"You've certainly been demoted haven't you Kronos? Look at you, on a leash running errands with a greater being."

Kronos's eyes burned a cold, menacing gold. His head lowered and for a moment I couldn't move. I watched though as Allistar snapped his fingers and I had control of my body again. Allistar scoffed and said,

"Please Kronos, your paltry time magic has no power here. Deliver your message and run back to your master like the dog you are."

That was it, Kronos leapt forward and producing a golden sword, brought it down towards Allistar's head. Quicker than I imagined possible, Allistar sidestepped and Kronos's sword plunged deep into the earth. Before Kronos could pull his sword out of the ground, Allistar produced his own sword, a glowing blade that looked more like energy than matter, and slashed down towards the golden sword of Kronos. The energy sword of Allistar cut right through the golden one like it was made of hot butter. The shard of Kronos's weapon melted into the earth as Allistar thrust his hand forward. The three titans were pushed backwards perhaps fifty feet and Kronos was forced to his knees in front of Allistar.

The leaders subdued the other titans and held them at blade point. Allistar's looked down at Kronos while the Lord of Time struggled to escape Allistar's power. Kronos yelled,

"Kill me then, it will do you no good. Our master will see you all burn forever."

Allistar hesitated and said,

"Tell me Kronos, whom do you serve?"

Kronos sneered and replied,

"Wouldn't you love to know? Why don't you ask your father, it's an old child of his."

Allistar's sword disappeared as he grabbed Kronos's face. Lightning began striking the spot where Kronos was kneeling and a funnel developed around the two of them. Kronos began to scream. Now don't get me wrong, I have unfortunately heard people screaming from torture, and this was not like that. It was infinitely worse. The sound coming out of Kronos's mouth was like every cell in his body was being ripped apart. After a solid minute of black lightning, a dark funnel, and blood-curtling screaming, his eyes began to darken until they were merely black sockets void of light. The screaming continued until Allistar suddenly tightened his grip, pulled to the side and ripped Kronos's head off.

I watched as Allistar dropped the head of Kronos to the ground, the head fading into nothing as it hit the rock. The headless corpse fell to the side and faded just like the head had.

At this point, Atlas was furious. Luke held him at sword point to keep him at bay, but I don't know if that would last for much longer. Oceanus and Hyperion were a different story, they had gone pale and looked too scared to move. Allistar walked towards them and said,

"Run along and tell your pathetic master he faces Allistar. Tell him unless he wants to share Kronos's fate he will disband his army and turn himself in to the Creator."

The three of them jumped up and began to glow, the Leaders and I looked away. But looking at Allistar, I saw him watching the retreating immortals until the light had vanished.

When they were gone, Allistar and the Leaders removed their helmets. Percy looked at me apologetically. He snapped his fingers so that I was once again visible and said,

"Wise Girl I am sorry you had to see that."

My mind was blank. I had never seen such power before, I knew Percy was powerful, but he just effortlessly destroyed the Lord of the Titans. I shook my head to clear my mind and said,

"Seaweed brain don't apologize, it had to be done. It just scared me hearing his scream and seeing his eyes turn black."

Luke looked at Percy and said,

"What did you do? I have never seen you do that before."

Percy replied,

"I momentarily exposed him to the Void, then when I felt he had experienced enough, I sent him back to Tartarus where he belongs. I am sorry you all had to see that."

Aurora said,

"Percy do not apologize, we were merely curious. It was…. Interesting to view that. I won't say I enjoyed it, but I am grateful for seeing another side of you."

Percy shook his head and said,

"You treat me like your master. I should have come alone, that way you all would not have seen me that way."

Calypso said,

"It terrified me I must say. But it was necessary. I think no less of you brother."

Aurora added,

"You are our leader, our hope. We will follow you no matter what."

Percy smiled and said,

"I love you all. Please go back to camp and tell the others what happened. I must council with Chaos about several matters."

Percy looked at me and smiled,

"How do you feel about meeting your maker?"


	23. Conversation with Chaos

-Percy POV-

Flashing back to my chambers with Annabeth, I faced her and said,

"Again, I am sorry that you had to see that. I had not planned on doing that, but I knew he wouldn't give up any information. And when he said we were all going to burn I just lost my temper."

It was stupid, unnecessary, and I had probably scared her. But as soon as he made that mocking smile, I was overcome with rage. Annabeth looked at me and shook her head saying,

"Its fine I told you there's no apology needed. Just warn me next time, it really did scare me."

I nodded my head and leaned down to kiss her. After breaking apart I walked over to the holo communicator and activated it. After a few second Chaos appeared in his Universe form, sitting on his throne. I bowed and said

"Hello Lord Chaos."

He smiled happily at me and replied,

"My son it's good to see your face."

Noticing Annabeth beside me he said,

"I take it this lovely woman must be Miss Chase?"

Annabeth stared back at the image in wonder, seeing the Creator of everything for the first time in her existence. She stumbled a few times trying to speak then said,

"Umn, hello Lord Chaos."

He chuckled and disappeared. Annabeth looked confused but I knew what Chaos was doing. Exactly like I thought, an exact replica of Annabeth appeared right in front of us. Chaos had taken on her form to make her more comfortable speaking to him, just the way he had done all those years ago when he found me.

He (or rather she) held out her hand and said in Annabeth's beautiful voice,

"My name is Chaos."

Annabeth's eyes were wide, but she was good at processing new, weird turn of events such as these. She hesitantly took Chaos's hand and shook it. Chaos looked pleased and said,

"I remember making you. Your dear father wanted a daughter so bad. He was overjoyed when you showed up. I do apologize for how hard your life has been, but unless I am mistaken the dark days of your life are behind you. And please, call me Chaos. I am not one for formalities when it comes to those dear to me. And since you are treasured beyond measure to my son Percy here, you are dear to me."

Annabeth smiled nervously and said,

"Thank you Lo… Chaos. It's kind of weird to hear my voice calling Percy "son"."

Chaos laughed and looked at me saying,

"I am happy you found her again. It pained me to watch you suffer these last centuries. But I could not interfere. Like I said, you must walk your own path."

In truth I was happy things turned out the way they did. Of course the last centuries without her sucked bigtime, but being able to come back and save her was in a way worth the wait. I only hope that was true for Annabeth as well. I sat down, after which Annabeth and Chaos sat down also. Wanting to make Chaos aware of the events of the past hour I said,

"Chaos, four Titans came to camp with the purpose of talking. Only umn, three of them left. They said their master sent them. They didn't get around to the message before I lost my temper, but they said their master was an old child of yours. Kronos said he would watch us all burn."

Chaos looked troubled, the idea of yet another one of his children succumbing to evil was not something he looked willing to handle. Already so many of his children and fallen into darkness, and he had few left that continued to live in the light. Of course one of his already evil children could be responsible, but that idea was not much better. He sighed and said,

"So many betrayals, who do we know could be behind it, leave nobody out."

I thought about the primordials, the ones who had already fallen into madness, the ones who still aligned with good, and answered,

"Nyx, Pontus, Thalassa, and Eros have all either been destroyed or have faded, Erebus remains in the Void. Aether, Hemera, Ananke, and Chronos still align themselves with you. Assuming the members of the council have not fallen, that leaves Tartarus, Gaia, and Uranus. Personally, I suspect Tartarus, he has been quiet for centuries. As far as we know, Gaia remains in her slumber, and Uranus is doing only you-know-what."

He replied,

"Actually I do not know. I would tend to agree. I would like to assume my other children have not betrayed me. But until the leader of this army reveals himself, we are still bound by the Laws. Until then, train the campers, and prepare for the worst."

I nodded and replied,

"Yes Chaos."

He nodded his head. After a moment he looked up and smiled saying,

"Now to speak of something more pleasant. I sense you wish to speak to me about the Angels, what is on your mind Percy?"

I said,

"I wish to do three thing, first reorganize the Angels. Some people wish to switch and new members will be joining us after the way. Second, I want to make a new squad for all the new campers. I will call it Omega squad. And third, Annabeth will be made the Leader."

Chaos stood there for a moment and answered,

"Sounds good to me son."

Just like that? I said,

"Oh umn, awesome. I figured there would be some discussion but great."

He smiled and said,

"I can't think of anybody better to lead it. As far as the reorganization and the new squad, you are the Commander, not me. You decide what the Angels do. Anyway the real reason I came was because I sense you have exciting news to share with me. Am I wrong?"

I beamed at Annabeth who was smiling shyly at me, looked at Chaos and said,

"After being reunited with my Wise Girl, we have found ourselves again and wish to be married."

He smiled and clapped his hands together happily saying,

"It would bring more no greater joy than to see my favorite child wed. Will you allow me the honor of performing the ceremony?"

I looked at Annabeth and she nodded her head smiling. I look back at Chaos and said,

"We would love you too. Thank you father."

He replied,

"Of course Percy. Now I am needed elsewhere, there is a skirmish in the outer rim of sector 4 and I must personally intervene. Goodbye children and it was nice to see you again Annabeth."

Chaos disappeared, leaving a smiling Annabeth and me wondering what he meant by see her again. Noticing my confused face Annabeth laughed and said,

"You seaweed brain! He made me, this is the second time he has seen me because the first time he was making me."

I felt stupid. Of course it was the second time.

By this time it was late, tomorrow morning started camp training and we both needed sleep. So taking her hand, I led her to the door. I said,

"We need to go to bed, tomorrow starts training. Would you like to see your room?"

She smiled and said,

"Yes, it's close to you right?"

She looked a little nervous that the room would be too far away, but relaxed when she saw that the rooms were literally right next to one another. I led her to the bed and snapped my fingers, immediately there were clothes that fit her and her style in the wardrobe. I faced the door as she changed, suppressing the desire to turn around. I was honorable, but I was still a guy, and painfully attracted to her. She said,

"I'm decent."

I turned around and nearly had a heart attack. She was decent… kind of. She had on a tank top and short shorts. I forced myself to look away and not think about exactly what most males would think about when in this situation. Never seeing Annabeth in this kind of attire, I immediately blushed and looked down. I could see her feet as she slowly walked over to me. She was totally messing with me. I said,

"This isn't fair, you are half dressed and distracting me."

I looked up and forcing myself not to look at her amazingly tan, perfect legs... Anyway looking at her face I could see she was trying not to laugh. I made a face and groaned repeating,

"Annabeth this isn't fair stop it!"

She smiled again, leaned in and kissed me lightly while rubbing her hands through my hair. It seemed she had enjoyed enough fun because she turned around and slipped on a pair of black sweat pants and a sweatshirt. I shook my head and said,

"You are evil. I nearly had a heart attack."

She smiled sweetly and said,

"If that gave you a heart attack, you may want to increase your life insurance after we get married."

It took me a second… Oh I get it, she's saying that I might die after we get married because I will see much more. Wow… I was officially speechless. That had not happened since Chaos took me in.

Trying to form a sentence and failing for a few moments, I finally said,

"I love you, and you are evil."

She laughed and kissed me once more before snuggling up to my chest. We stood there for a few seconds before I broke off and smiled down at her. I smiled as she rubbed my chest, turned around and climbed into bed. I said,

"I love you Wise Girl, goodnight. I hope you get some rest for training tomorrow."

She replied,

"Love you too, see you in the morning."

Yes, yes you will. And the next day, and the next until time itself stopped. We had forever.


	24. First day of training

-Percy POV-

Waking up, I was suddenly overcome with joy that I was going to see Annabeth this morning. After going centuries of waking up alone and essentially remaining alone for the rest of the day, the idea that she was sleeping in the next room made me want to cry from joy. Making my way from my room into hers, I was surprised to see that she was still sleeping. So I took a seat in the loveseat by her bed and just watched her sleep.

It was amazing that I had seen the universe, I had looked at Chaos in all of his glory, seen the birth of a sun, witnessed hypernovas and spent time on just about any type of planet you could imagine. But for all the exploring I had done, I could honestly say I had never seen anything like Annabeth.

From the perspective of most people, she was just another minor god, she was the daughter of the wisdom goddess which made her respected, but still nothing extraordinary. To me though, she was everything. In simply existing, she lit up my entire being in a way I had forgotten until recently.

I leaned in closer to her face and lightly kissed her lips. The moment I did her beautiful eyes opened and she grabbed me and pulled me next to her. Now don't get me wrong, with the exception of the incident with Kronos, I had amazing self-control. But lying next to my fiancé in bed and realizing that the sweat pants and sweatshirt were now on the floor, I found myself thinking about things I would rather not share. She seemed to notice my predicament and said,

"Don't worry, as much as I would love to I'm not trying to end our abstinence, I just wanted to spend some time with you before the day started."

I scoffed and said laughing,

"Again not fair, here I am being completely good and you're wearing the bare minimum to be considered decent. How am I supposed to concentrate?"

She narrowed her eyes and said slyly,

"Am I making you nervous? I could always put my sweats back on if it helps you concentrate."

That was the last thing I wanted her to do, in fact I wanted her to do the exact opposite. But coming to the conclusion that more time in bed with my half clothed fiancé was good for neither of us I said,

"Yes please. That would help tremendously."

She sighed and laughed before kissing me and jumping out of bed. She put on her sweats and I was able to focus again. This was another side of Annabeth I had never seen. I guess being engaged shuts down some defenses you have with somebody. I loved this new side of her though, and was crazy excited to see the rest of her.

She sat down in the loveseat and beamed at me saying,

"I love you. I keep thinking I'll get used to seeing your perfect face but every time I do I find myself falling in love with you again. I wonder if I'll ever stop re-falling in love with you."

I looked down, this was so against what I was used to. People knew the name Allistar all over the universe. They respected that name and feared the consequences of crossing him. But as Percy, I relied on my friends and Chaos for the support I lost when I was exiled. To have the other half of me back, and to know that we had forever with each other was the only reward I could ever want. She noticed my hesitation and asked with concern in her eyes,

"What is it? Did I say something that hurt your feelings?"

I replied,

"No not at all, on the contrary I just find myself in the exact same place. I have walked this universe for centuries. I thought my isolation from love would be eternal. But you are bringing Percy back, and it is just a bit to take in. For so long I was only Allistar. I forgot what it felt like to romantically love, now that you are back, I can literally feel again. That stupid One Republic song makes sense now."

Her smile returned and she said,

"I felt the same way on the beach! When you revealed yourself it was like my numb heart began to beat again. I was reaching out for love but missed it and felt nothing. But then you came, and I began to function. Just like the song."

I smiled but jumped out of bed when realizing training began in two minutes.

"Holy Chaos we are late."

She looked at the clock on the wall and began looking for something to wear. Being a Lord of Creation, I snapped my fingers and we were suddenly in training gear. She smiled, kissed me one more time and snuggled up to me for one last hug. After a few moments, I flashed us to the big house.

\- Line break -

\- 3rd Person POV -

Camp half blood was more active than it had been in centuries. People were running every which was trying to prepare. The Angels and Leaders stood calmly in formation, the campers were all gathered in various areas. Some were in the field, some were by the big house, and others were in the strawberry fields. Random nature spirits and satyrs were running around bringing water and snacks to people before the training began. The minor gods and Olympians had all gathered in the dining pavilion. It was the largest assembly of allies camp had ever seen. Nearly eight thousand beings were packed into the camp. How they were all going to train there in the tight quarters was anybody's guess.

At 0800 hours exactly, a bright flash lit up the field and everybody turned their attention to it. When the light died, Allistar stood there gazing at everyone. Annabeth had been flashed to the dining pavilion. There were engaged, but he was still the Commander. At the sight of the Commander, Slade shouted,

"Attention."

Like always the Angels became a single, disciplined unit standing perfectly still awaiting orders. Allistar began,

"Good morning Angels, Leaders, campers, spirits, gods, and other beings. Today begins our training together."

The gods and campers had moved from their spots and walked closer to Allistar to be able to hear him better as he continued,

"As you all know, the campers will be training with one specific squad for the duration of our stay. They will now choose. Angels, squad block."

In mere seconds, the Angels turned, rotated, and stepped into a tighter formation. The Angels bordering the squads now faced one another, this was for the purpose of being able to easily distinguish squads. Allistar said,

"You have the choice between six disciplines. Alpha squad uses dual swords and relies on the combination of several sword fighting styles. Beta squad uses a spear and shield and focuses on the Pila spear form, it is an old form of combat the Romans developed. Gamma squad which uses axes and uses on old technique the Vikings developed. Epsilon squad who use bow and arrows. Eta squad which pounds enemies down using war hammers. And Zeta squad who rely on speed and agility to get under enemies defenses using hunting knives."

The campers chattered excitedly until Slade said,

"The Commander is speaking."

At once the campers quieted down. Allistar continued,

"Once you choose, you will be with that squad for the rest of our stay, so choose wisely. Take you place in front of the squad you wish to train with."

The five hundred campers began making their way to various squads. Some walked straight to one having made up their minds, others hesitated between two, not sure which one to choose. After about a minute though, each camper had chosen. Squads Alpha and Beta had around the same amount, probably around one hundred. Squad gamma and Eta had less, probably around forty each. Squad Epsilon and Zeta both had the most, a little over one hundred.

It seemed most of the Greeks had chosen either Alpha or Epsilon. While most of the romans choose Beta or Zeta. Allistar wasn't surprised, Greeks tended to enjoy dual swords or bows. Romans tended to favor spears, or short blades. Axes and hammers weren't typically used by either so it stood to reason that those squads would have the least amount of campers.

Allistar looked around and nodded his head saying,

"Good. Now many of you are probably wondering how roughly eight thousand people are going to have enough space to train. The head Angelic trainers and I have discussed this and have created a solution. Each squad will travel to one area of the earth each day. Not only will it change the atmosphere and hopefully train you in all climates, but it will give those of you who have never travelled a chance to see the world. Each week in the dining pavilion, I will post the locations of each squads training for your information."

At this point the campers were all but bursting with excitement. Travelling, spending time with the Angels and getting elite class training, this just kept better and better. Allistar noticed this and said,

"Be warned, this training will test all of you. We train hard and you will need to give one hundred percent to fully learn from it. Today's locations are as follows. Alpha will be in the Himalayas. Beta will be in the Everglades. Gamma is at the Grand Canyon. Epsilon in Greece, Eta in the Superdome in Louisiana, and Zeta will be in Kansas. The head trainers will transport you to the training site. Minor gods you are with the Leaders and you will be training at camp. Olympians and Annabeth, you're with me on Olympus. Any questions?"

By this time everybody was ready to begin. Nobody had a question so Allistar finished with,

"Alright, training is from now until 0200 hours. Train hard, learn a lot, and have fun. Dismissed."

The Angels shouted back,

"Yes Commander."

With that the Angels and campers diapered, off to their various locations. Allistar walked to where the Olympians and Annabeth were standing. Reaching them he snapped his fingers and they suddenly appeared on Olympus in a large field. After they got over their shock of being transported without the consent nor agreement Zeus said,

"So Percy what will you have us doing today?"

Allistar looked at Zeus and replied,

"When training you will refer to me as Allistar or Commander. And as to your question, we will be going over the basics of your powers."

A few of the gods scoffed and Apollo complained about already knowing enough about his powers. Allistar shook his head and said,

"None of you including and especially you Apollo have mastered your powers. Now, when you use your powers, do you know what you are drawing energy from?

Athena, always the know-it-all said,

"I have read that there are objects of infinite power that supply all immortals with energy."

I smiled and replied,

"Correct, in the Realm of Creation there are spheres of infinite energy for each and type of power. There is one for lightning, liquid, love, hate, and so on. They are called the Orbs of Existence. From these you all draw energy when you use your power. Most of you don't know this because you've never cared to know more about your power. But to use your power to the fullest, you must understand it."

Poseidon chimed in and asked,

"How do we understand it?"

I replied,

"That is the first thing we will be covering, how to fully understand your power. To win this war you will need to be able to use all of your power, and right now I would imagine you are only using a fraction of your full ability."

Many of them were taken back at that information, Ares looked upset that he could have fought more had he fully used his ability, typical. Most of the rest seemed more surprised than upset about that. Poseidon and Athena however looked excited at the prospect of increasing their abilities. I said,

"When you summon your power, imagine physically drawing energy from the Orbs, and imagine the Orb become you. You must act through your source of power to maximize your ability. Now all together I want you all to create a sphere on energy in your hand. It doesn't matter how big, what matters is the feeling and the amount of energy in the sphere. Do it now."

Each Olympian and Annabeth created little balls of power in their hand. Various colors were present, Apollo's was golden, Aphrodite's was pink, and Zeus's was light blue, and so on. Allistar continued,

"Now I want you to imagine drawing energy from the Orb and let it flow through you into the sphere."

Some of the spheres brightened a bit, but most of the Olympians just stained and nothing happened. Allistar chuckled and said,

"We've got a long way to go."


	25. Free Time

-Annabeth POV-

Eight hours later, I was mentally and physically exhausted. We had been working on expanding our powers all day, and I was ready for some down time. Percy had said the first day would be the worst and it would get easier after that. I hoped to Chaos that was true. If I was this tired after every day, I don't think I would last long. The Olympians didn't look any better. Apollo had passed out after the fifth hour. Aphrodite and Dionysus had both been unable to continue after the sixth hour. And the rest of them had all made it, albeit barely. The only gods who seemed to enjoy the training were Ares, Poseidon, and mother. Mom and Ares had not surprised me, but I guess after being without powers for so long, Poseidon was just glad to be using them at all.

Two o'clock struck and Percy called us out of our small groups were practicing in. We staggered over to him and listened to the ending remarks,

"Alright, some of you did better than others. I think the biggest thing we can take away from today's training is that you have only begun to discover your ability. I am confident that if you all stick with this, you will find completely new doors to be opened with your abilities. The best thing to help recover your strength after strenuous power training is rest, deep meditation, and possibly a massage if you can swing it."

Aphrodite looked back in forth between Percy and I smiling. It took all my willpower not to blush, a massage from Percy sounded better than literally anything right now. He seemed to have a similar issue because he hesitated, tried not to smile, then continued,

"Anyway, we will not be meeting at camp from now on, meet here at eight o'clock tomorrow. Thank you and see you tomorrow."

Immediately the rest of the gods flashed out to do whatever helped them relax the best. The thing that made me relax the best was standing right in front of me smiling. I made my way over to him and practically fell into his waiting arms. I just leaned on him for a few moments, gathering my strength. He seemed to notice how tired I was and picked me up, carrying me in his arms. He smiled down at me and leaned in to kiss me but I stopped him just before he could. He looked confused so I quickly said,

"Percy as much as I would love to kiss you, I smell terrible and desperately need a shower."

He leaned in anyway and kissed me for a few seconds. While he was kissing me, something incredible happened. All the exhaustion, soreness, and odor from the past eight hours disappeared and I felt better than ever. It was like I kept all the progress I had made today but none of the weariness that came with achieving that progress.

I pulled back and asked,

"What just happened?"

He smiled sweetly and replied,

"I restored you energy level, I would hate for you to be sore and tired the rest of the day."

Part of me was happy, I obviously did not want to feel like I had broken my back for the rest of the day. But the other part of me was disappointed because that also meant I would not be receiving any messages from Percy.

He must not have been as big as a seaweed brain as I thought because he said,

"A massage would still be happily offered though, if you wanted one of course."

I smiled and said,

"Wow I'm impressed, I didn't even need to say anything."

He looked a little guilty as he replied through laughter,

"Actually your reaction wasn't why I said it. I just honestly really, really wanted to give you one."

I flushed and looked down blushing. Gods since when was he this romantic? Abandoning any all of pride I answered,

"As it happens, a massage would be greatly appreciated right now."

He smiled and the next second I found myself on a beautiful white sandy beach overlooking a crystal clear ocean. I hadn't ever seen this beach before which honestly surprised me, I used to spend most of my time on beaches and usually never went to the same one twice. I said,

"Wow Percy this is amazing, where are we?"

He smiled and said,

"The Zanzibar beaches of Tanzania. Of all the beaches in the world, this is one of my favorites. The people here are some of the kindest I have encountered and the ocean view is second-to-none."

Setting me down, he sat on the beach and snapped his fingers. At once my mouth was hanging wide open. His training armor disappeared and he was suddenly wearing nothing but a sea green bathing suit.

Now don't get me wrong, I had seen Percy without a shirt on. When I first met him he was scrawny and not much to look at. Yes that sounds girly and superficial but I am still a female and have hormones. But by the time the Giant War was over I had to struggle to concentrate on anything else when he was without a shirt. Now, as he lay causally strew across the beach, I wouldn't be surprised if drool was hanging out of my mouth.

He was deeply tanned and every curve of his muscled upper body was defined and perfect. He seemed to notice me marveling expression. He chuckled and commented,

"Now we are even from back at the cabin."

He smiled mockingly at me after that and that was it. He had challenged me and I never backed down from a challenge. Forcing myself to look away from his painfully attractive body, I closed my eyes and focused. A moment later I opened them and looked at myself. My training gear had turned into a light blue bikini, blue because it was his favorite color, a bikini because I wanted to see how much it would drive him crazy.

Satisfaction exploded inside of me as I looked up and saw him with a similar reaction to the one I had just worn a few seconds ago. His eyes ran up and down my body and for the first time ever, I wasn't embarrassed by physical exposure. I basked in his attention and approval. Smiling coyly I said,

"No, now we are even."

Sitting down by him and positively satisfied with myself, I looked over at him. I was taken aback when I saw that he was looking at me with an expression of absolute love and affection. For a moment I was just as distracted but for a different reason than before. A few moments ago I had been distracted by the sheer perfection of his body. Now I was equally distracted by the passion and intensity of his expression.

Just as quickly as the expression came, it was replaced by a playful one. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me over to him. We rolled in the sand a few times laughing and when we stopped I was lying on top of him. At this point any rational thinking was impossible, his skin was incredibly warm against mine and I could feel his heartbeat as I lay my head on his chest. His arms tightened affectionately around me and I can honestly say it was the best moment of my existence.

We laid there for a few moments and I looked up to him. I kissed him and closed my eyes as we enjoyed exploring each other's mouths for a while.

I jumped up in shock when somebody loudly cleared their throat. I broke away and looked up to the person who did it and was embarrassed at the sight of the six Angelic Leaders with various expressions on their faces. Aurora and Calypso were just smiling. Silena was jumping up and down shrieking, she reminded me so much of her mother is was scary. The guys were just shaking their heads laughing.

I got into a more slightly appropriate position sitting next to Percy as he comfortably smiled up at them and said,

"Hey guys, how did the first day go?"

Calypso groaned and said,

"Terribly! Most of them had no idea how powerful they can be and yet they do nothing to improve themselves."

Leo added,

"It's like they spent their entire moral lives improving themselves but quit when they were made gods. At the point where the most possible improvement was possible they decided to give up on training."

"How did the Olympians fare," asked Luke.

Percy replied,

"Some did well, some did decent, and others failed miserably. I had a similar problem with the Olympians. Apollo was the worst. The sun god. The god of a nearly infinite source of energy, and he was the first to throw in the towel."

I had been curious as to why Percy had singled him out so I asked,

"Why were you being overly harsh on him? He's one of the youngest gods so it makes sense he would be one of the least powerful."

He nodded his head and replied,

"Normally I would agree with you, but not in this case. If Apollo wanted to, he could be just below the big three in terms of raw power. He is the god of a giant ball of energy. Not to speak ill of them, but many of the Olympians are gods of far lesser things but are more powerful than him. It is because he is lazy, unmotivated, and more focused on who he's going to get it on with with that night than fulfilling his responsibilities. He has no desire to ever grow up mentally, thousands of years old and has the maturity of a ten year old."

Well, I wasn't expecting that. Not that I disagreed with him, I had just never heard anybody speak that way about a god before. Had Percy not been the one to say it, and had Apollo not been physically drained, he might have stuck down the person who said that. But Percy had more power in a single thought than Apollo had in his entire being, so Percy said it casually and without fear.

Calypso said,

"Did you tell him that?"

Percy shook his head and replied,

"No, I suppose it does me no good to complain about it to you guys. Maybe I should tell him. I had hoped that a lifetime listening to his sister lecture him would make him more willing to grow up, but it seems I was wrong."

We stayed there for a few moments enjoying the view. Of course the view I was enjoying was Percy and not the ocean like everybody else. Actually scratch that, peeling my eyes away from his perfect abs, I noticed him staring at my legs. We met eyes and both realized we had been caught staring at each other. I stuck my tongue out at him and he winked at me simultaneously.

After a few moments of silence, Percy looked at Luke and said,

"Was there something you guys wanted by the way?"

Luke looked a little offended, I could understand. I felt a little guilty, before Percy and I had started getting close again, he had spent all his time with the Leaders. Now that we were back together, he hardly ever spent time with them. I nudged Percy with my elbow, he seemed to get the hint and quickly said,

"I'm sorry my friend I did not mean that as if you were offending or bothering me. I was just curious what you guys were up to."

Luke looked a little better and said,

"Yes we were just wondering if you guys would want to do something tonight."

I was surprised so I asked,

"Like hanging out? You guys actually just hang out?"

Everybody but me laughed. Calypso said,

"Yes, even though we are the protectors of the universe we still need time for ourselves. The seven of us have been best friends for centuries and love spending time with one another. It makes me very happy to know that our dear leader has found his companion and our group will even out."

I smiled at her and even though I had never had a one on one conversation with her, I knew that we would be great friends someday. Percy added,

"When we are not in the line of duty things are no so different from the way things were at camp all those years ago. We hang out, we do things, and we mess around. It's just now we have more responsibilities so we have less time for that kind of stuff. It makes the free time we do have all the more precious. And yes Luke, we would love to do something tonight. Did you have something in mind?"

Luke smiled and replied,

"We were thinking just hanging out and talking in your chambers."

Percy nodded and replied,

"I like it, it will give Annabeth the opportunity to catch up with what we've been doing for the past five hundred years. Plus Aurora I would like you to get to know Annabeth."

Aurora looked at me and said,

"Oh, I think Annabeth and I should definitely talk."

Percy raised his eyebrows and looked at Aurora, she was staring at me with a mixed expression. Her expression was one of both suspicion and indecision. As if she was trying to make her mind about me but already had an idea of what to expect. Percy noticed and said,

"Aurora she didn't know what she was doing. There's no reason to be over-protective."

Aurora's gaze softened a bit after Percy said this. She nodded and Luke put his arm around her. Percy continued,

"Anyway you can all go to my chambers, give Annabeth and us a minute please."

Aurora looked at Percy and said,

"Forgive me Percy, I was out of line."

She looked down in shame but Percy just smiled, walked up to her and hugged her briefly saying,

"There is nothing to forgive. I appreciate the concern, but you have nothing to worry about. She is everything to me."

She winced a bit as Percy said the last part but nodded and looked up at me. This time it was an expression of regret and apology. She said,

"Forgive me Annabeth. I would still like to speak to you. Please don't think badly of me. I am over-protective of my friends, especially Percy. I hope you and I will be great friends someday."

I smiled and nodded my head but said nothing. She seemed to understand my reluctance. The Leaders touched hands and with a flash were gone.

I immediately walked to Percy and snuggled close to him, leaning on him for support. I knew why she was hostile towards me. She cared deeply for Percy, perhaps more than just a brother. I was the one who had broken his heart, of course she would hate me. No matter how good things seemed, she would look at me and see nothing but all the years Percy spent miserable because of my actions. Percy wrapped me in his warm body and I almost moaned by how warm and comfortable his body felt against mine. He looked down at me and smiled sadly. He kissed me passionately but quickly and said,

"You will have to forgive her, Aurora is like an over-protective younger sister. She believes every breath she takes belongs to me. Her devotion to me has grown far too strong. I'm happy she and Luke found each other, but I think that until she starts living for herself, and not for me, she will never truly love Luke. I imagine you noticed how she acted almost romantically towards me. It's true, for a time she sought to develop a relationship with me. She has never been more than a sister to me, but it has been difficult for her to move on. Luke helps, but it will take time."

Fear crept into my heart as I whispered,

"I broke your heart, and she is beautiful and eternally devoted to you. Why did you refuse her?"

His face fell as he realized how vulnerable I was. As If to prove a point he took my hand and placed it on his chest. I almost began to droll, but smiled as I felt his heart beat. He said,

"Do you feel that? That heart has only ever beat for you. There will never be another that is beats for. I am forever and always yours."

That was it. I began to cry softly. I needed comfort, I needed to be wrapped in his arms with nothing but him on my mind. I pulled him back down and as he laid down I pressed myself against him. We both sighed as less pious thoughts crept into both of our minds. I was losing concentration as I knew he was. He wrapped me up like a little girl as I cried into his chest, the tears rolling down his chest into the sand.

We laid there for a few more minutes and to my surprise, the pleasure of our bare skin didn't lessen, on the contrary the desire to push the boundaries of what we both knew was appropriate grew. Knowing my willpower was about to come to an end I kissed him and pulled him up with me. I said,

"We had better get back to them, I would like to hear about your adventures and speak to Aurora."

He hugged me once more and said,

"I love you very much and yes I'm looking forward to it. Shall we go?"

I smiled and replied,

"We shall."

He rolled his eyes and with a flash of bright light, the beach was once again empty.


	26. A complication

Just so you all know, I have no intention of giving up this story. I have just been super busy these past few days and have had very little time to write. I'm sorry I actually have the rest of this story planned out, and after finishing it I would like to make a second story about Annabeth and Percy back on Genesis having children. Any ideas of how I could make that happen would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading

-3rd Person POV-

Back at the Chaos cabin, Percy and Annabeth walked through the streets of the city of Angels. Beautiful houses were everywhere and a blue light shone down upon them as they made their way to the Leaders home. Just as Percy had created a star to like the city during the day, he had made a moon to light the city at night.

This one he called Lux, the Roman name for light. It shown with a darker, colder light than the blue sun that dominated the day sky. Annabeth looked around at the houses the Angels lived in and sawed many Angels in them doing various things. Some were watching television, others were playing games, but most were just sitting in large group rooms talking. There was a large open area in between the houses and the Leaders house. Thirty of forty people were tossing footballs, playing soccer, or playing cards or chess at tables around the area.

Annabeth knew many of the Angels were outside the cabin in the camp. It made her happy to think that the two groups were getting along so well. She looked around at how well everybody seemed to be getting along and said,

"Percy I don't deserve to be a part of a group like what you are a part of."

Percy looked at her in confusion and asked,

"What are you talking about? Of course you deserve to be a part of us."

She shook her head and replied,

"Everybody in this army has done amazing things with their lives. I'm sure that trillions of people in the universe owe you are the Angels their lives. You people have dedicated your existence to protecting others. I fought in two wars, then did nothing. I unwillingly played a part in your exile, then rotted for centuries. I have done nothing worth being a member let alone a leader of this."

Percy stopped her by a bench and they sat down, he looked at her and said,

"Annabeth listen to me. Every member of this army has been given an amazing thing and none of us deserve it. Almost all of us were either on the brink of death, already dead, or doing nothing with our lives. Chaos, and myself after becoming the Commander, found the people in this army and gave them the opportunity to be a part of something far greater than anything they could ever do on their own. We are not a collection of good people chosen because we were extraordinary or special in some way. We are a group of people who were given a second chance to make a real difference in the universe, and it's a chance we all took and will forever be grateful for. Nobody here deserves to be here any more than you do, we are all equally unworthy. You will do amazing things with us Wise Girl, I can't wait for you to become one of us."

Annabeth smiled and replied,

"Are you ever going to stop overwhelming me?"

Percy scrunched his eyebrows together and asked,

"What do you mean?"

Annabeth replied,

"Just the general outlook you have. When you were mortal you turned down the greatest gift of all so that others could benefit. You are somebody of whom the world is not worthy. And the people in this army are the same way. They wake up in the morning thinking about how they can help others. I just hope I can be like that someday."

Percy smiled widely and said,

"When you see a planet on the brink of mass death, and you alone have the power to save them, or when you see a woman in a street that is an inch from death and you know you can give her new life, you see things differently. Your own life becomes worth much less, and you begin to love people you don't even know. You will come to know this. Anyway, the Leaders are waiting."

So getting up, they walked to the Leaders house and went inside. Walking up the stairs to the upper level, Percy realized something. He said,

"I just realized, you will be living here soon when on long missions. You'll need a room."

Annabeth smiled and said,

"Can I just have the room I stayed in last night?"

Percy nodded his head and while passing the guest room, he snapped his fingers. Looking to Annabeth he said,

"Now, when you go to bed tonight, imagine the exact room you want, step inside and it will be the way you want it. Don't worry about size, its magically set up to fit your exact desire."

Annabeth leaned over and kissed Percy. She meant it to be a short, simple kiss but the moment their lips touched she found herself wanting more. Pressing herself against Percy he wrapped his arms around her. They remained that way until somebody once again cleared their throat. This time Annabeth did not jump back, she slowly receded from Percy and looked to see the Leaders in Percy's chambers waiting for them. Luke playfully said said,

"Are we going to hang out or were you two just going to make out for the rest of the night?"

The rest of the Leaders laughed and Percy pulled Annabeth into the room to catch up on everything she had missed from the last five hundred years in the lives of some of her oldest friends.

\- Line Break -

\- Percy POV -

Three hours of hanging out and talking about old times, present issues, and the future, I was ready to spend the rest of the night with Annabeth. As if she senses my desire Aurora stood up and said,

"Alright we've taken up enough of their time, they probably want to spend some time alone."

She smiled but I knew deep down she trying not to show pain. Ever since I saved her life, her affections toward me have grown. I knew she had given up on us ever being together, but she still harbored feeling for me and was trying desperately to move past them. I was glad she had Luke.

The rest of them agreed, Silena and Leo yawned and the rest also looked ready to get some sleep. Aurora looked at me and said,

"With your permission I would like to speak with Annabeth briefly."

I replied,

"You'll have to ask her. I don't speak for her."

Aurora looked at Annabeth and said,

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to treat you as an object, its habit to address Percy first."

Annabeth pursed her lips and nodded saying,

"It's alright and yes of course that's fine."

The rest of the Angels stayed with me while Annabeth and Aurora walked out to speak.

Ten minutes last they walked in smiling, good I looks like they hit it off well enough. Annabeth sat down next to me as the Leaders went to bed. Looking down at Annabeth I asked,

"So how did it go?"

She curled up with me and I wrapped myself around her as she answered,

"It went well. She just wanted to make sure I wasn't secretly planning on breaking your heart. After getting past that detail, we had a great talk. She told me about how she was in love with you for years but realized you would never love her back. She told me about how Luke helps, he's good to her and she hopes one day she will completely move past you and be able to focus solely on him. She asked me to have patience though, she will always be devoted to you for saving her, but she says one day it will be no more than the devotion somebody has to a good friend."

I smiled and replied,

"She has a good heart and is more loyal than most people I know. She and Luke are good for one another."

We were quiet for a little bit, she was playing with my fingers on my left hand as I rubbed her back with my other hand. Once every few minutes one of us would look to the other and we would kiss for a moment. But for the most part we just laid there enjoying the company of one another. After about twenty minutes she looked up and me and asked,

"Is there really going to be a war Percy?"

I wanted to say no, I wanted to tell her that everybody would be safe and that I could make the evil disappear. But I knew it didn't work that way, I could not simply wave my hand and defeat the enemy. As much as I would love to do that, I still had to obey the Laws. I answered,

"Yes and I will not be able to fight it by myself. Chaos didn't send us to make earth's problems go away. He sent us to teach you how to defend yourselves. Unless the leader of this army personally stepped forward and challenged us, there is little more I can do than train them. If Chaos stepped in and fixed everybody's problems, the universe would be nothing but a machine, void of possible improvement and doomed to remain constant forever. His creation must defend itself. I don't like it, I wish I could wave my hand and destroy evil forever, but the free will of creation naturally reverts to evil. Chaos doesn't know why, he has theories, but every time he tried to fix the universes problems, evil evolved and endured. The only way to really keep it at bay is by acts of love and kindness. Teaching others to defend themselves, and spreading good in any way possible to help keep darkness at bay."

She was silent for a few moments. I guessed she was thinking about my answer so I just went back to rubbing her back. After a few minutes she said,

"Percy there was one other thing Aurora and I talked about."

O boy, I know where this was going but didn't at all want to go there. I asked,

"And what was that sweetie?"

She hesitated before asking,

"How… how bad was it?"

Visions of sleeping in alleys, eating out of garbage cans, and other acts of vagrancy I would rather not share came to mind. Talking about this would benefit neither of us. But she was now looking at me with pleading, beautiful gray eyes so I found my will cracking. Gods she had pretty eyes. I said,

"It was similar to the way you lived before Luke and Thalia found you, except that the desire of every monster within ten miles was to kill me. It's amazing I was able to stay alive. The more time that goes by, the more I'm convinced Chaos watched over me and protected me."

Her eyes darkened and filled with tears. I sighed and pulled her closer to me. She was freely crying now, shrieking slightly ever now and then. After a few minutes she had settled down enough to carry on a conversation. She looked back at me and said,

"Can I… can I see it."

I pursed my lips and answered wearily,

"Annabeth seeing that would bring you nothing but pain and grief. Why would you subject yourself to that?"

She got a stubborn look and replied,

"You are everything to me, I feel like you are a literal part of me. I need to see every facet of what I did to you to be able to forgive myself. If I sit here guessing at how bad it was then I may underestimate the pain you went through. Please show me so I can finally forgive myself and move on."

I deeply sighed, she was harboring guilt and clearly needed to let that go. If this was the only way to erase that guilt, well I don't want her seeing it but if it helps then so be it. I replied,

"Alright, but not tonight, it's late. Tomorrow after training I promise to show you everything between my exile and arriving back at camp. I warn you, I have seen true horrors in my position. You must be willing to watch people die if you want to know my past."

She shook her head and replied,

"That won't be the worst part, seeing you suffer will be. But I need to move on from my grief, and this may be the only way."

She yawned and stretched out on me, while stretching she mocked punched me. Smiling, I grabbed her hand and placed it against my face. She looked at me and just stared into my eyes. Gods she was gorgeous. I wanted to tell her so I said,

"You know, it's hard to concentrate on anything else when you are this close to me."

She smiled widely and put her head against mine and saying,

"I know exactly what you mean."

She closed her eyes and inhaled, chuckling I said,

"Still obsessed with my breath?"

She punched my arm playfully and said,

"You know I love the ocean, and somehow you smell a hundred times better."

I laughed and replied,

"Well I'm glad you are so enamored with my breath. Anyway you need sleep my love."

She made a sour face and said,

"Fine, but tomorrow you make good on your promise."

I nodded and pulled her up. We walked out of my room and to her room just down the hall. We stopped in front of her door and she closed her eyes, focusing on the kind of room she wanted. After a few seconds she opened them and stepped inside.

Our breath was taken away. When I said she could have any room she wanted, I had no idea this would be what she choose.

We were standing in a glass box, maybe twenty feet wide by forty feet long. The box was surrounded my water on every side and I realized we were under the surface of the ocean. I looked up and through the shallow water I saw Elpis, the sun I had made. I laughed and looked at Annabeth. She was staring up at the water in wonder. She looked at me and said,

"Thank you, I have always wanted a room under water."

She pressed herself against me and hugged me tightly, probably not wanting me to leave. I picked her up and carried her to her bed, setting her down and lying next to her. She cuddled up to me and I pulled the covers up over us. I found myself strangely desiring to kiss her so I asked,

"Hey Annabeth, would you mind if I kissed you?"

She looked up with a loving expression and didn't wait for me to start. She pressed herself against me, wrapped her arms around me and began kissing me. I still couldn't believe how wonderful this was. I found it was difficult to keep my mind from wandering to other things I also wanted to do. Thankfully though I found the will to control myself, as did she. We broke apart and went back to just lying with each other.

I laid there for a little while just enjoying being with her. After an unknown period of time I realized she had fallen asleep. So kissing her lightly on her forehead I carefully got up and went to my own room to go to bed.


	27. A memory

-The next day-

-Percy POV-

"Artemis you're not visualizing the bond between you and your power. You need to feel it, here let me show you…."

After helping her centralize her energy flow, I looked around the area. Athena and Poseidon were dueling using only their powers and were pretty even. Ares was practicing with his bloodlust ability I taught him, I was very pleased with the three's progress.

The same could not be said however for the rest of the Olympians. Apollo had again passed out and refused to train any more that day. Aphrodite was done, Dionysus was wavering, and the rest of them either weren't improving, or were barely showing progress.

Part of me knew I shouldn't expect them to keep up with my expectations, but for the life of me I remembered the Angels catching on a lot quicker. Annabeth seemed to be doing well, she was doing repetitions of a disarming maneuver using plasma that Athena had taught her. I shook my head and went over to Zeus to show him how to properly fuse lightning with energy…

-Line break-

At 0200 hours, the second day of training came to an end. I announced,

"Everybody, we are done for the day. Condense around me for closing comments."

They gathered around me as I rubbed my temples and tried to control my frustration. I looked up and said,

"Alright, today was better than yesterday, but many of you still have not improved at all. Tomorrow we are going to try something new, what that is you will not know until tomorrow. Until then, rest, meditate, and massages. Dismissed."

The gods flashed out and I sat down on a bench and rubbed my temples, since when did I get headaches? Two soft hands began massaging my head and I immediately got goosebumps from how good it felt. Knowing it was Annabeth I lowered my hands and closed my eyes.

After a minute, my headache was completely gone. Smiling up I looked into her beautiful eyes.

She was smiling down at me and then bent down and lightly kissed me, effectively ending all frustration I had built up. Her lips moved with mine and before we knew it she was sitting in my lap. We broke apart and laughed together. She said,

"I love you."

I smiled and replied,

"As I love you."

"You'd better," she said and raised her head in satisfaction while smiling.

I laughed and stood up. She tilted her head and asked,

"Are you okay Percy?"

Not really, I was bound by the Laws not to save these people but they couldn't seem to improve themselves. How could they hope to win when they were not improving? I replied,

"Yes and no. The gods are not improving. With the excepting of Ares, Athena, Poseidon, and Artemis, they are stagnant. I don't know what to do to help them improve."

She pursed her lips and replied,

"My mother once told me that the nature of a god is extremely difficult to change. They represent entities that for the most part don't deviate from their initial state. Because of that, unless a god has an incredibly strong will, or represents something that can be altered, they remain the same for their entire existence."

I replied,

"But what's the point of being a god then? If the purpose of being a demi-god is to train and to make yourself into the greatest possible hero, why become a god if you will remain at that level for eternity?"

She shrugged and said,

"I wouldn't know, I was all but forced to accept godhood. Mother also said that the reason they use heroes so much for quests is because they are bound by laws that limit themselves. So not only do they remain at one power level, that power level is limited by the situation they are in. Being a god isn't all it's cracked up to be."

I nodded and sighed. I knew godhood was over-rated but I didn't realize the extent of that truth. If the gods could never change then they were once again solely dependent on their children. I said,

"I will need to speak to Chaos about this. This was unforeseen and if they can't improve then we will need to change strategy."

She smiled and replied,

"Whatever you do, I am with you. I will follow no matter what."

I shook my head and replied,

"You already sound like an Angelic Leader, telling me you'll follow me to death."

She punched my arm and said,

"It's true seaweed brain, just take the compliment. Anyway, you have a promise to make good on."

I mentally groaned, I knew she wouldn't forget but had hoped it would be later. I said,

"Annabeth just know that you will see horrors beyond anything you've seen. If you truly want to go through with this, be prepared."

She nodded her head and said

"I need to let go of my guilt, this is the only way. You promised."

I nodded my head and replied,

"Okay this is what we are going to do, I will show you five flashbacks of key events in my past. They will give you an overview of what I went through after leaving earth behind."

She clearly wanted more but knew this was all she would get. She nodded her head. So closing my eyes and concentrating, I sent us back in time to the first flashback.

Planet: Earth

Sector: 1

Date: November 15th, 2015

Percy and Annabeth suddenly appeared on the sidewalk of a street in downtown Manhattan. Annabeth looked around and asked,

"Is this where he found you?"

I nodded and pointed down the street. Annabeth looked at where I was pointing and gasped loudly. It was me, or rather a scrawny, dirty, battered me that looked starving and scared. It was me right before Chaos found me. Right behind in hot pursuit was a group of monster all hell-bent on killing the scrawny version of me.

Annabeth choked back a sob and reached for her knife as if to defend me but I grabbed her hand. She looked at me in confusion so I said,

"This is only a memory, he can't see us and we can't change anything that happened."

She made a sad face and looked back at the other Percy. He was staggering down the street holding a bent, broken Riptide in his right hand. He looked behind him and ducked into an alley. The monsters, who were able to smell him turned into the alley. I pulled Annabeth into the alley and we walked down it, seeing the broken form of me holding Riptide by my side as the monsters closed in. Annabeth whispered,

"No."

She sobbed and reached out her arm as if to help in some way but knew she could do nothing. Just before the monsters reached him they suddenly disappeared without a trace. In their place stood a little boy staring at the dirty Percy.

Annabeth laughed through tears and seemed to pull herself together as she asked,

"Is that… is that Chaos?"

I smiled and nodded, placing my finger on my lips so that she could hear what was about to happen.

_"Perseus I am so proud of you," said the little boy._

Annabeth laughed and continued to listen.

"_You alone are the creation that most resembles me. You are absolutely golden and I could not be__more proud__to call you mine," said Chaos. _

_Percy looked up and said,_

"_Look kid I don't know what your parents have been feeding you, but you need to get out of here, there are bad things that might hurt you and I don't want that."_

_Chaos laughed and Percy dropped his sword_.

"I forgot how lovely that sound was after I had been on the run for so long," I said

Annabeth just stared at the younger version of me with a sad look and continued to watch. Chaos said,

"_My dear boy, I have always loved you, since the moment you were born I knew you would be special. You have a heart as big as the world, more compassion__then__any being I have created, and more courage than I would ever have if I were in your shoes. You have saved my creation countless times, would die a thousand deaths to save a friend, and yet the very people you would die to protect have forgotten you."_

Annabeth began to cry softly as she listened to her deeds laid bare by the Creator.

_Memory-Percy looked down in embarrassment, I remember how weird it was to be complemented by Chaos at the beginning. Chaos said,_

"_And humble too"_

_Percy looked up and said,_

"_Hold on, your creation? Who are you? Are you God? Because if you are I know I have kind of skipped out on church I know, but I have been a bit busy trying to stay alive."_

_Chaos laughed again and Percy smiled slightly. Chaos replied,_

"_I am not the__Christian__God if that is what you mean. I know not of Him or anything that came before me, He very well may exist and have made me, but other than that I know nothing of anything before me. I suppose you are moderately confused right about now?"_

_Percy nodded and said, _

"_Oh__you know, monsters disappearing, a little boy with an amazing laugh telling me he made me. Just a little confused."_

This was my favorite part, I took Annabeth's hand and smiled at her. She smiled sadly back and looked at the scene.

_The boy smiled again and before Percy's eyes transformed into a man standing at least seven feet tall. It was like looking into the sky on a__starry__night. His clothes, skin, and eyes were the blackest black Percy had ever seen. But in the blackness there were blinding lights that looked like stars. He could see miniature spirals that looked like galaxies floating around his robe and he thought he saw a mini star exploding on his left pant leg._

_Percy immediately backed up. __Somehow the walls around Percy seemed to be having a similar problem, as Percy watched, the paint on the walls began to run down the wall and the wall seemed alive almost as it began to deteriorate and decay. As soon as Percy thought he was going to burn away from the sheer power of the man, the light died and the walls were back to normal._

Annabeth had looked away when Chaos had been in his universe form but now looked back at him. What she saw made her eyes grow wide. Percy chuckled and looked back at what he knew was Chaos in his woman form.

_He turned back to the man and saw instead a young woman probably around__twenty five__. She was gorgeous, long jet black hair__draped__down her slender back. A pale, perfect face that held the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. Aphrodite herself was hideous compared to this woman. Percy couldn't help it, he blushed and looked down again, and completely overwhelmed by this being who went from a laughing little boy, to a blinding yet confusingly dark man, to a__breath takingly__gorgeous woman._

Annabeth gasped and said,

"She's beautiful, is this the woman form?"

I smiled and nodded. Then as we watched Chaos turned again into a cleaner, bulkier version of the memory-Percy. My mouth dropped as I realized it was a mirror image of me now. He was wearing the same clothes, same hair, everything. I never put the pieces together that he took the form of what I would become. I would need to ask Chaos about that later.

Annabeth looked back and forth between me and Chaos and realized that same thing I had.

"_I can tell you are overwhelmed by me Percy. I have shown you but the smallest fraction of my true being. Had I shown my true form, the universe itself would collapse, unable to handle me. I am everything, and I am nothing. Do you now know who I am," asked Chaos._

_After a few seconds Percy said,_

"_You are the creator, you are Chaos."_

_The mirror Percy smiled and nodded slowly and said,_

_"I am indeed Chaos. And I have come to make you an offer dear Percy."_

_"What could the creator want with me? I am merely an outcast demi-god," said Percy._

Annabeth laughed and said to the memory-Percy,

"Percy you are everything."

I laughed and replied,

"Well thanks Wise Girl."

She looked at me, grabbed me and kissed me fiercely for a minute before turning back to the memory.

_Chaos smiled sadly and said,_

_"If it did not violate my own ancient laws, I would make every being that has ever harmed you fade. Percy I know of every living being in the universe. Trillion and trillions of souls, and not one can compare to you. There is none other that I would more happily make this offer to."_

_"But what about the monsters? I assume that was you who sent them back to Tartarus," questioned Percy._

_"Oh my dear boy I did not send them to Tartarus I sent them to the void, and I only did that because I can destroy using my powers only to save somebody, but not for any other reason."_

_"Wait the void? The chasm I almost fell into at the bottom of Tartarus," asked Percy._

Annabeth shuddered as the memory of Tartarus came back to her. I squeezed her hand and looked back.

"_No that was merely a portal to the void, but we will speak of that later if you accept my offer. Which I will make to you now. Percy, will you come with me? Will you leave earth and come to my home world of Genesis and become what you were born to be," asked Chaos._

_Percy replied,_

_"What was I born to be?"_

_Chaos smiled and answered,_

_"The Prince of All, the heir to All, my son, and the Commander of the Angels of Chaos."_

_"I will come with you," Percy said without a moment's pause._

_Chaos smiled and turned around to the alley. He raised his hand and a small black dot appeared out of nowhere, hovering five feet off the ground. As Percy watched, the dot grew into a round, black portal about 10 feet in diameter. Chaos walked calmly up to it, turned to Percy and gestured for him to go first._

_Percy took one last look around the alley, then without hesitation he walked up to the portal, walked past the Percy-Chaos, and stepped into the portal._

Chaos and the memory-Percy disappeared and Annabeth looked at Percy and said,

"He saved you, I knew it already but seeing it gives me a whole new level of respect for him. I will forever be grateful to him for this."

I smiled, so would I. I leaned down and kissed Annabeth quickly. I withdrew and asked,

"Are you ready for the next one? The rest are much shorter but show how I became the Commander and some examples of what the Angels do."

She kissed me one more time and replied,

"I'm ready."


	28. More memories

Planet: Gorgum

Sector: 2

Date: June 13th, 2035

-Annabeth POV-

The next thing I knew Percy and I were standing on top of a building. It was raining and the sky was a creepy dark reddish color. I looked at Percy and asked,

"Where are we? I don't like it here."

Percy shook his head and agreed,

"Nor do I, but this is one of the moments I began to change my outlook. Something happened here that strengthened my compassion. Look over there."

He pointed to the edge of the building and saw a hooded figure looking out over a suburban area. The figure suddenly jumped from the building. Percy threw me on his back and we ran after the figure.

Jumping down from the building, we saw the figure running down the street very quickly. Percy ran just as fast as caught up to the figure who had stopped at another alleyway, what was it with him and alleys?

We followed the figure into the alley, Percy set me down and I realized who the figure was. It was Percy, well Percy from however long ago this happened. He looked worried for some reason, I found out why as I looked at what he was staring at.

_A woman lying face down on the ground. I could tell she was a woman because she had long blonde hair. She was barely clothed and looked like she had been beaten up. I gasped as I smelled urine and seamen. This woman had been raped and beat up… _

_As I watched, memory-Percy made a light blue bubble around the two, must be trying to keep her warm. He then reached under her and gently rotated her to be face up. My heart stopped when I saw her face. It was Aurora, but she had been brutally beaten. She had bruises and cuts all over her face and somebody had slashed her mouth. Images of The Black Dahlia came to mind as I stared at her._

_Memory-Percy looked down in pain, at the same time a raspy, broken voice whispered,_

"_Please… please leave me alone. I am ashamed, please look away."_

_Percy shook his head, and after pressing a button on his wrist said,_

"_I will not. Tell me my dear, what is your name?"_

The woman looked confused, she had to try so hard to remember her name. I looked at Percy with tears in my eyes and he was just staring at them with a tormented expression. I grabbed his hand and he smiled sadly at me. We looked back at the scene.

_She answered,_

_"Aurora."_

_Percy looked at her and smiled sadly. After a few moments of silence he said,_

"_Aurora, I can save you. I can give you a new life you can't even imagine. I will protect you and you will never have to fear again. But I need you to tell me to save you. I cannot save you without your permission. Tell me, do you wish for a painless passing, or a new life?"_

_Her open eye looked at Percy as she feebly answered,_

_'I don't want to die, I am afraid to die. Please save me, please protect me."_

_A single tear slid down his cheek as he smiled and said back,_

_"You will be happy again Aurora."_

_With that the two of them disappeared._

I looked at Percy and saw he was staring at me with an expression of weariness. I didn't understand why so I asked,

"What is it?"

He pursed his lips and said,

"That is why she struggles to let me go. I saved her and gave her a new life and she feels that I am her master. I wish she could move on, but if I could literally go back, I would save her all over again."

I smiled and said,

"Of course you would Percy. It's not in your nature to not save somebody. That is one of my favorite things about you."

He smiled and ruffled my hair, after which he pulled my head to his and kissed me deeply. His lips moved with mine as the rest of the world disappeared. Kissing him and other things with him had become my favorite thing to do and I simply could not get enough.

After a few moments we broke apart and I made a sad face. He laughed and said,

"We can continue that later. For now we have another memory to watch."

Later… That sounded good. I smiled and said,

"Alright, let's do it."

-Line break-

Planet: Corilia

Sector:

Date: August 9th, 2291

_Flashing away from the memory, we were now on the surface of a planet in the middle of a large city. _

_It looked kind of like Manhattan but cleaner, more advanced, and brighter. In fact it was uncomfortably bright. I looked to see where the blinding light was coming from and nearly had a heart attack, if gods can have those. A large, red orb dominated the entire sky. It was like the sun had suddenly moved within a couple thousand miles of earth. The star was dying and about to go supernova…_

_People were running around trying to find shelter and I saw two people standing in the street calmly looking up at the expanding star. It was Percy and Luke._

I looked behind me and saw actual Percy standing there looking around smiling as he watched the people. I was wondering why the sight of people running scared made him smile. He saw my confused expression and said,

"It makes me happy to see them because I saved them. Look."

_As I watched, the star shrunk back to normal size, I knew this was the last stage before exploding so without thinking I put a shield around myself. I doubted it would help but I did it on reflex. The next moment it exploded._

_Right before it exploded memory-Percy raised his hand and I saw a large dome appear in the sky. It was purple and probably wrapped around the entire planet. The wave of energy and matter coming from the star flew at us and within seconds collided with the dome_.

It was the loudest sound I had ever heard, I had to cover my ears for fear of going deaf. Suddenly the sound stopped, the people still covered their ears but I could only hear my energy dome around me. I willed it to disappear and looked back at Percy. He was smiling at me and said,

"I didn't want you to be in pain so I cut the sound of the memory."

I smiled and said,

"Thanks, it was hurting my ears."

He nodded and pointed at the memory-Percy.

_He was smiling as the dome help strong, the sound must have stopped because the people looked up and uncovered their ears. A couple of minutes later the shockwave disappeared and in the old suns place was now an exact replica of it. I looked at memory-Percy and saw him lower his arms._

I knew he had shielded the planet form the supernova, and had then made a new sun for them to live off of.

_The people around them suddenly swarmed Percy and Luke and hugged them and before long they had put them on the shoulders and were carrying them like heroes. Luke loved it but Percy just smiled slightly at the sight of all the people he had saved. _

Percy walked up to me and put his arms around me and I looked at him in wonder. He noticed my awed expression and asked,

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

I replied,

"Just you. Everything about you is based on saving and protecting others. I am feeling so useless and fake in comparison."

He made a sour face and shook his head saying,

"Anybody with half a heart would have done the same thing. I am not special Annabeth."

I looked up at him and took his face in my hands. I was done with him thinking so low of himself. I said,

"You listen to me Percy Jackson, stop thinking so badly of yourself. You are an absolutely wonderful person who done more good than anybody else in history. I would rather spend forever in Tartarus with you then live my life without you. Your depressed self-loathing attitude might have worked when you were away from me, but now that we are together again, you are going to stop."

He looked taken aback for a moment, nobody had probably ever spoken to him since he joined Chaos. I was worried I had made him mad but felt better as his face spread into a huge grin. He suddenly lifted me up and twirled me in a circle before setting me back down again. Without letting go he pressed me against him and hugged me tightly. I put my head against his chest and giggled.

He rubbed my head as he began to make out with me. I found myself rubbing his chest as we blissfully enjoyed this moment in clear view of thousands of people. They couldn't see us obviously, but I doubt I would have cared if they could have. The pleasure of it sent my mind into overdrive and I found myself running my fingers through his hair and before long breaking apart and gasping for air.

He chuckled and break apart, keeping me at arm's length. He said,

"Sorry I have just wanted to do that for a while."

I shook my head and replied,

Don't apologize, I loved it. I wished you hadn't stopped."

"We still have two more memories to watch, are you ready?"

I replied.

"Not at all. I have seen enough to know what I had done and now I knew in some small way, it helped you. If I could I would have stopped what had happened long ago, but I am trying to take a positive from it. Trillions owe their lives to you, and if you would have been at camp instead, they would have died. Aurora, all these people, and all the countless others. I can live with myself knowing things turned our alright in the end."

He smiled and asked,

"So if you're done driving done memory lane, what would you like to do?"

I smiled coyly and replied,

"You, me, your chambers, now. We are picking up where we just left off."

He laughed and nodded his head. Holding me in his arms, we flashed back to reality.


	29. Weapons Training

-Annabeth POV-

The next morning I woke up early, last night had really opened my eyes to what went into making Percy the person he is. After the memories, we had come back here and just hung out for a while. I have to admit, the more time goes on the harder it is to control myself when we are alone. Percy said he wanted to wait until after the war to get married, but now that we had settled back into the amazing routine of seeing each other every day, neither of us really wanted to wait that long. We had decided to make it a small affair with only parents, best friends, and Chaos of course. And we had decided it should happen soon, we didn't however decide on how soon.

Getting out of bed, I noticed that it was only 7:14. Perfect, gives Percy and I some time before starting the day. Looking down at what I was wearing, I saw that I was only in a loose tank top and short shorts. After going over what might happen if I went in there half-dressed I decided to slip some sweats on and went to go walk Percy up.

Walking into his room, I noticed the door was already slightly open. Hmmm that's weird, he usually sleeps with his door closed. I continued walking to his bed and noticed to my surprise that he was not there. Confusion and slight panic rose in my chest as I looked around for any sign of where he might have gone. Finding nothing, I decided to go ask Luke.

Practically running down the stairs, I came to Luke's room and knocked on the door. There was a slight shuffling inside and the door opened revealing Luke. He saw me and asked,

"Annie what is it?"

I ignored the old nickname and quickly busted out,

"Have you seen Percy?"

Luke squinted his eyes for a few seconds, getting used to the light and after a few moments focused on my question and answered,

"Yeah Chaos called him to Genesis last night for a meeting. Said he'd be back before training today."

I calmed down significantly and asked,

"Why didn't he tell me?"

Luke replied,

"Probably didn't want to wake you. This happens sometimes, you'll get used to it."

He yawned and I held my head back from the onslaught of morning breath. I said,

"Alright thanks, sorry for waking you."

He yawned again and said,

"No problem."

Deciding to go get ready for the day, I walked back to my room slightly upset I would not get to spend time with Percy this morning.

Walking back into my room I took off my sweats and walked to the wardrobe. Little did I know Percy was lying casually on the bed, I had just not paid attention. I jumped when he said,

"Wow, you look almost as good as you did on the beach."

I looked over to the bed and saw lying comfortably on my bed. Excitement exploded inside of me I ran to the bed and cuddled up against him. All the panic and worry that had built up when I didn't know where he was seemed to disappear as I lay there in his arms.

Around 7:50, he said,

"Okay we need to get up, training starts in ten minutes."

I made a disgruntled face and said,

"I wish we could spend the whole day together."

He chuckled and replied,

"What do you mean? We do spend all day together."

I shook my head and said,

"Training doesn't count, I mean together just the two of us."

"Well there's always Sunday," he said with an impish smile.

I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, he was already in training gear so while he turned his head most unwillingly, I changed into my gear for the day. While I was changing I asked,

"Are we going to be focusing on our powers again today?"

He replied,

"No, today we are doing weapons training. I don't want to strain them too much, pushing power limits daily will result in more harm than good. After training there will be a meeting of the Angels to discuss progress so far and I would like for you to be there."

I smiled and turned as I finished changing.

"I'm decent, and I would love to be there."

He turned his head and frowned saying,

"Too decent."

I blushed and stuck my tongue out at him. He smiled and continued,

"I figure you'll be leading part of the Angels soon so you might as well get used to them."

I nodded and dragging him out of bed, we flashed to Olympus.

-3rd Person POV-

On Olympus, the Olympians were gathered in a ring of people talking about how they were progressing with their powers. A bright light appeared and from it Percy and Annabeth walked up to them. The gods ended their conversations as Annabeth took her place with them, awaiting Percy's instructions for the day. He started,

"Good morning everybody, today we will be taking a break from exercising your powers and will begin weapons training."

The gods seemed happy at the break from power training. Weapon training would be much less taxing on their energy. Percy continued,

"Unlike the campers, you all have specific weapons and need specific training. For this purpose each of you will be individually training with me. We will do twenty minute sessions with each god until we are done for the day. I realize this gives you a lot of down time in between sessions, which is why the next thing you will be doing today is sparring."

The gods were all but exploding with excitement, if there's one thing the gods enjoy, its competition with one another. Athena and Poseidon stared each other down, Ares looked like it was Christmas and he was about to get his favorite gift. Zeus nodded his head in approval, the rest of the gods were less war-like though so weren't as excited. Percy got a serious look in his eye and said with obvious authority,

"Just sparring. And no powers in any capacity. You are not to maim, injury, or in any other way harm your partner, I'm talking to you Ares. Tomorrow we will be having a sparring competition between you all. We will be doing this for two reasons: one so that you are having some kind of enjoyment from this. And two so that we can gauge your progress with weapons throughout our training. Sparring will be done according to the list I have made up. First up with me is Poseidon."

Poseidon smiled at his son and stepped forward as the rest of the gods broke into assigned partners…

-Line break-

-Percy POV-

I ducked as Ares slashed the air above me and stepped to the side, I was trying to teach them, not destroy them so I didn't impale his exposed mid-section like I would have if he had been an enemy. Instead I said,

"Keep your stance tight Ares, I could have beaten you there. If you are going to attack, you must protect your exposed section or follow with a protected attack."

Ares nodded and continued, he had been surprisingly willing to listen to criticism…

-Line break-

Raising my sword I swatted away the thrust Athena had done with her spear. She followed with a twist and attempted to smack me with her shield. I stepped back and to the side and she followed with a spear slash which I ducked under. Athena's form was excellent. She hardly missed a beat and was by far the best fighter of the Olympians…

-Line break-

Artemis attempted a roundhouse kick followed by a knife slash. I ducked under the kick and swept her legs out from under her. Falling to the ground I stepped on her wrist to force her to drop the knife and said,

"Protect your exposed section, don't overextend yourself on an attack. Better to drop back in defense then to sacrifice good position."

She nodded as I helped her to her feet.

-Line break-

I smiled as Annabeth approached me with her knife in one hand and sword in the other. She made a jab at my face but I moved my head to the side. She followed through with a twist and tried a slash with her sword to my mid-section. I blocked it with Riptide and spun it around to where it dropped from her hand, I then quickly slashed down and knocked her knife out of her hands. Wanting to mess with her I then grabbed her, spun her around and kissed her. She kissed me back then pushed me away and kicked her sword back up to the hand and jabbed at my legs…

-Line break-

Five minutes before 0200 hours I called the gods back together. Many looked worn out, but for the most part they were in good spirit. I said,

"I'm very pleased with how today went. Clearly you need less practice with weapons than your powers. Like I said tomorrow we will be having a sparring competition. First round opponents will be posted in the throne room tomorrow before training. The winner tomorrow will get the rest of the week off. Any questions?"

There was a lot of excitement about the week off part, but no questions so I ended with,

"Good, rest up, and good job today. Dismissed."

The gods went to their various activities as Annabeth walked up to me. She looked worn out but beautiful. I smiled widely at her and she narrowed her eyes saying,

"What are you smirking at seaweed brain?"

I laughed and replied,

"Just my beautiful fiancé."

She gave me a beautiful smile and leaned in to kiss me. As she kissed me I let a little bit of energy into her and she leaned back no longer looking worn out but good as new. Smiling she said,

"Time for the meeting?"

I nodded and touching her cheek, I flashed us to camp.

When we got back to camp the Angels were waiting in uniform and formation at ease. The Leaders were standing in front of them. The moment I appeared Luke shouted,

"Attention."

My dear Angels were once again the disciplined unit the universe knew and feared. Annabeth looked around, unsure of what to do so I said to her,

"You can stand here Wise Girl, they know your position and importance to me and they are happy for me. They will soon view you the same way they view the Leaders."

She smiled uncertainly but nodded and stood by my side. Wanting to see the faces of my Angels I said,

"At ease dear ones, let me see your wonderful faces."

They relaxed and removed their helmets. At once all the people I had saved smiled up at me. I laughed from joy and spread my arms out saying,

"There is not a leader of any army in history who has gotten more joy from staring into the eyes of his brothers and sisters. If you all wouldn't mind, I would like to have a meeting in the cabin to go over current progress. I don't wish to take up any more time than needed out of your relaxation time so it should be quick."

Alexandra yelled out from the back,

"Command us to spend every moment with you and we happily would. We love you Commander and follow you no matter what."

Many other Angels nodded their heads and agreed with her. I laughed and grinned at them. Wanting to get the meeting underway so they could enjoy their time off, I said,

"Report to Chaos Park please."

They shouted back,

"Yes Commander."

The next second we were all in the Chaos cabin in the giant park. The Angels were in formation waiting for me to act. I snapped my fingers and a full sized Greek theatre appeared with the Angels sitting in various seats. Annabeth gasped and looked around at the massive theatre that just appeared out of nowhere. She looked at me with a confused look on her face so I said,

"Lord of Creation remember? Its standard procedure whenever we have Angel meetings."

She laughed but was still in awe of the theatre. She took a seat in the front row next to the Leaders as I walked to the center of the stage. I began,

"After our third day of training, the Olympians largely have made little progress increasing their powers. Today we started weapon training and despite the barely constructive two days of training, they did wonderful today. Almost all of them impressed me and I think they learned a lot. Tomorrow we are having a sparring competition between the Olympians. They don't know it yet, but you will all be there."

The Angels chattered excitedly for a few seconds, Percy allowed it since they were not in uniform and were in a casual environment. After the chatter died down he continued,

"As I was saying, all of our allies will be present. It will be held on Olympus so tomorrow morning report to Olympus at 0800 hours. The competition shouldn't take long so you should be back to training around 0900 hours. Any questions?"

Nobody spoke so he continued,

"Now, I wish to hear about the campers and the minor god's progress. Head trainers and Leaders, front and center."

The six head trainers and six Leaders came forward and stood at attention in front of me, they saluted and said,

"Commander."

I nodded my head at Issac from Alpha squad for him to begin. He stepped forward and said,

"Sir Alpha campers are progressing very well. We came up with a training schedule to monitor their progress. 93 Alpha campers are progressing on schedule."

I asked,

"What about the remaining campers?"

He hesitated and admitted,

"Sir I am not positive on how to proceed with the campers who are not progressing on schedule."

I nodded my head and replied,

"How far behind are they?"

"Ranging from barely to severely behind, sir," he answered.

"Alright, for now give them time, I did not expect them to keep up perfectly at first. If these campers remain behind, bring it to my attention. They may require specialized training."

"Yes Commander," he answered and stepped back in line.

Similar results came from the other squads. The only serious issue was one camper from Eta squad, a son of Ares refused to train because he thought the training was beneath him. I informed Revenac to bring the camper to me if the problem was not resolved by week's end.

After that the head trainers made their way back to their seats and I nodded to the Leaders. Luke stepped forward and said,

"From you assessment of the Olympians, the minor gods are progressing with similar results. They excelled in weapon training but are struggling to improve their powers."

I nodded my and replied,

"Alright, if the state of things doesn't change with the gods within the month we will have to change approaches but for now we will continue on. Every Wednesday after training we will have a meeting to discuss their progress. Any questions?"

Calypso raised her hand. I nodded for her to speak so she asked,

"Are there any assignments from Chaos?"

I replied,

"Not yet but I don't doubt there will be. When they arise I will send Angels out to complete them but until then, continue to train and rest. Anything else?"

Nobody had any other questions so I said,

"I love you all, have a great rest of the day. Dismissed."

The theatre disappeared and we were all standing in Chaos Park again. The Angles dispered to enjoy some down time. I looked at Annabeth and the Leaders and asked,

"What are you all doing tonight?"

Annabeth smiled and replied,

"I'm doing whatever you're doing."

I smiled widely at her then looked at the rest of them. Calypso said,

"Leo and I are going on a date."

Luke said,

"Aurora and I want to see the Eifel Tower so we'll be in Paris."

I nodded and looked to Silena and Beckendorf. Silena said,

"We are going bowling then seeing a musical on Broadway."

I made a suspicious face at Charlie who said,

"I lost a bet… I don't want to talk about it."

I laughed along with the rest of the people present and said to them,

"Alright well I hope you all have fun," I said.

They all disappeared going to their various date sites. Of course that left me and the most wonderful person in the world alone for the night, a fact we both were more than okay with. Annabeth walked over to me, put her arms around me and asked,

"So seaweed brain, where are you taking me tonight?"

That threw me, I thought for a moment then replied,

"How do you feel about Chicago? I hear Harry Caray's has the best Chicken Alfredo in the country."

Her face lit up like a lightbulb and she said,

"That sounds great. Plus I've always wanted to see the Willis Tower."

I laughed and replied,

"Of course you have, how about we get ready then leave around four?"

She kissed me and that kept us busy for a few seconds. After breaking apart I flashed us to the Leaders house to get ready for our first date night since me being back.


	30. The Perfect Date

-Percy POV-

Around 3:50, I decided I was ready for our date. I had picked out a simple black suit with a sea green bowtie and handkerchief. For some reason I had always been obsessed with cufflinks so I had created a pair of cufflinks shaped like waves. Annabeth would probably call them cheesy but I liked them. Walking out of my room I knocked on Annabeth's closed door. Her lovely voice called out,

"Come in."

I opened it and when I stepped inside my heart nearly stopped. Annabeth was standing by the bed in a beautiful gray, strapless dress that stretched down to her ankles. She wore plain white slippers and had a gray bracelet on her right wrist. She had curled her hair so that with every move they bounced around. I can honestly say I have never seen anything more beautiful.

For the first time since meeting Chaos, I found myself completely overwhelmed and unable to speak. I tried to compliment her but it came out as mostly gibberish nonsense that made no sense.

She noticed my predicament and gave me a flirtatious smile. Walking up to me I found that my heart rate accelerated as she got closer. Right before getting to me she stopped and said,

"You clean up well Mr. Jackson. I hope I'm not overdressed…"

She raised her eyebrows, looking for me to say something flattering. Finally able to put words together I said,

"You umn, you look great."

Great? Come on Percy that was pathetic. Building myself up I added,

"I have seen the female form of Chaos which is considered to be more beautiful than anything else in existence, but I disagree. You are by far more breath taking."

She laughed and her shoulders came up as she giggled. She said,

"That might have been the most romantic thing I've ever heard you say. It was cheesy, but I like cheesy."

She then stepped up to me and an expression of bliss took over her face. Her eyes then suddenly became serious as she said,

"I never thought I would be happy again. I thought I would be alone in my misery for eternity. But then you came back and you saved me."

She looked down at a loss for words and I thought I saw her wipe a tear from one of her gray eyes. I tilted my head to the side and using my index finger, raised her face to look at me. I said,

"Annabeth you don't have to worry about me leaving again. I will never let you go and will always be with you. Not even if Chaos commanded it would I leave your side. You're stuck with me for forever."

She smiled and replied,

"Well I guess there are worse people to be stuck with for forever. I think I can live that."

I rolled my eyes and pecked her on the lips, not wanting to smear her makeup. I held out my arm in the most gentlemen-like fashion I could. She took it and I flashed us to West Kinzie street, Chicago.

-Line break-

"That was the most amazing date I think anybody has ever been on," Annabeth said as we walked away from the Willis Tower.

I leaned over and kissed her quickly and replied,

"I'm glad you liked it Wise Girl."

Dinner had been amazing. I was pleased to find that the rumors were true, that place had the best Chicken Alfredo, even Annabeth who claimed not to like chicken loved it. I asked Annabeth,

"Was there a woman in the bathroom who offered to wash your hands?"

She laughed loudly and replied,

"Yes! She had like thirty beauty products on the sink and offered to wash my hands for me. I washed them myself but gave her a tip anyway."

I nodded, I had done the same thing. I looked at a clock on one of the building and noticed it was only 7:42, we still had hours left tonight. So trying to figure out what to do for the rest of the night I asked,

"We still have four hours left tonight, what would you like to do now?"

She smiled and said,

"I want to swim."

I smiled and said,

"Awesome that sounds great. Are you sure the water is the biggest reason why you want to swim though?"

She looked over through narrow eyes and replied,

"If I remember right, you were the one who couldn't concentrate last time we were on a beach. I was merely admiring your well exercised body, completely innocent and you had to go and stare at me when I changed,"

I replied,

"I call bullcrap on that, you were practically drooling when I took my shirt off."

She rolled her eyes and smiled but said nothing, admitting the fact that the sight of each other in a bathing suit drove the other one crazy.

I asked her,

"Any preference on where we swim?"

She shook her head and replied,

"As long as I'm with you I don't care."

I thought about the beaches of the world, and all the places I could take her. Then I thought about all the beaches I had seen on other planets. It was time for Annabeth to visit her first foreign planet so I asked,

"Are you set on the earth's ocean?"

She scrunched her eyebrows together then slowly smiled and asked,

"Is it safe?"

The planet Veroni was a planet in Sector 2 comprised entirely of crystal clear water and perfectly white sandy beaches. The atmosphere was exactly the same as earths and it was only a few degrees hotter. Perfectly safe for a minor god. Not that I would let minor inconveniences like atmosphere or insane weather stop her from seeing another planet, yet another perk of being a Lord of Creation. I nodded my head and replied,

"You will be totally safe and I promise you have never seen anything like Allistar Beach."

She asked,

"Named after you?"

I nodded and replied,

"Are you ready?"

She took a deep breath, nervous to leave earth for the first time. But she then breathed out and nodded. So taking her arm and concentrating, I imagined us standing on Allistar beach, the next thing we knew we were flying through space at the speed of light.

-Line break-

-Annabeth POV-

Had I not been clinging to Percy, I would have had an absolute panic attack. This was literally the most terrified I had ever been. One moment we were standing in the busy streets of Chicago, and the next we were flying through the atmosphere and then out into the absolute black expanse of space. After only half a second we flew by something large and gray, I assumed that was the moon. I tried to speak but failed, I was for some reason unable to open my mouth. After another second we passed a smaller sphere, Pluto I guess. We then picked up even more speed, the only reason I knew that was because I began to see objects behind me and remember listening to a lecture on astrophysics. The lecturer had said that if you travelled at or somehow faster than the speed of light then you would begin to see objects behind you because light couldn't keep up with you. Not exactly sure how he knew that, but I had to find him and tell him he was right someday.

At the impossibly fast speed we were flying I saw random blotches, a giant blue light here, a huge collection of light and matter there. The sight of the universe flying by was too much too bare and I closed my eyes, clinging desperately to Percy. After a few more seconds I realized that we had stopped, I opened my eyes into Percy's shirt and asked,

"Are we there yet?"

He laughed and replied,

"Open your eyes little coward."

I was scared of what I might see, could it be a black hole, a nebula? I trusted Percy though so turning my head slowly, my breath was taken away. We were in orbit of a massive sky-blue planet. I looked around the planet and saw little streams of golden material extruding from the atmosphere that trailed off into space. Looking back at the planet, I noticed that it was almost entirely dominated by water, excluding some random white patches strew about the surface. Percy said,

"Veroni, the largest water planet in existence."

I asked,

"How big is it?"

He chuckled and replied,

"About three times as big as the sun."

I was astounded, it blew my mind that something so large could be made almost entirely of water. My mind failed to comprehend the trillions upon trillions of cubic miles of water this planet must hold. This planet could provide water to earth until the sun blew up. Percy must have wanted to get to the surface because he began to fly again. This time slowly compared to the speed at which we had travelled to get here.

As we got closer, I began to notice details in the planet. I saw waves, hurricanes, and beaches on the edge of the land masses. As we descended, the space above us began to lighten until at one point the sky was the same color as earths sky, a pretty light blue color, there weren't however any clouds to be seen.

When the surface looked within a few miles Percy excitedly asked,

"Do you trust me?"

He had a crazy smile in his eyes, this expression reminded me of a pyrotechnic seeing a large flame ablaze. I hesitantly replied,

"Yes…"

He smiled widely and suddenly let me go.

Naturally being a god I could have just flashed to the surface, but he caught me so off guard that my mind was consumed with panic and I lost the ability to rationally think. I saw Percy shot off towards the surface and heard a loud band as he broke the sound barrier. I saw him reach the surface and the massive tidal wave that resulted in his impact on the water. As I watched he began to circle his hand and all the water that had been displaced began to swirl. The water rose and swirl until it reached me and I was stopped by it. I sat on top of a massive cone of water and laughed for no reason other than the sheer excitement of it. Still at least a mile in the air the water slowly receded back into place, taking me to Percy on the surface with it.

Reaching Percy, I tried very hard to look angry, in truth it had been fun, but I still wanted to psych him out. Unfortunately he saw right through me and laughed. He grabbed me a shot off, and the next thing I knew we were on a beach even better than Zanzibar.

We stood on a perfectly white, clean beach overlooking the bluest ocean I had ever seen. For the first five hundred or so feet the water was a light blue color, then darkened as it became deeper. A small amount of perfectly clean foam had developed on the edge of the beach and all I wanted was to be in it.

So closing my eyes, I was once again in my blue bathing suit. I looked over and noticed Percy was gone. Circling around though I saw him casually floating maybe thirty feet out into the water on his back. I giggled as I looked under him and saw a perfect shadow of him under the water on the sand, the water was literally crystal clear. I ran out to meet him laughing when my skin touched the warm, blue water.


	31. The Competition

-3rd Person POV-

Ten minutes before 0800 hours the next day, Olympus was vibrant with activity. A full sized version of the Roman Coliseum had been created in an open area where the training was held. Angels, campers, minor gods, nature spirits, and even some other mythical beings had shown up to see the Olympians duke it out.

The Olympians were in the center of the amphitheater preparing themselves for battle. Having the ability to hold up to 80,000 people, the Coliseum was nowhere near full. Much more minor gods has shown up that expected and the non-divine mythical beings presence was welcome but not expected. All in all nearly nine thousand beings sat in the lower sections waiting for the action to begin.

The Leaders and Annabeth sat in the Emperors box while Percy had made his way to the floor. Wanting to get underway he magnified his voice so everybody could hear him, he began,

"Host of Olympus, Angels, and other mythical creatures, we are all here today to witness the Olympian gods in a friendly, sparring competition. The winner shall get the rest of the week off plus bragging rights. We will have two of these competitions, the other to take place just before we depart. There is one rule: absolutely no powers. This is a sparring competition and only weapons are allowed. Any use of power will disqualify the god responsible."

The Coliseum was excited to get underway so Percy ended with,

"To make sure no serious injuries happen, I have converted the god's weapons to non-lethal. When an attack that would normally be lethal happens, the god on which the attack is made will be transported back to the sidelines without injury. This is single elimination and the winners will advance to the next stage. The final stage will be a three way match, last one standing wins. First up is Hermes vs. Artemis."

The rest of the gods moved to the sides to stand by the walls while Artemis and Hermes gotten into battle stances on either side of the floor. Artemis adjusted her hunting knives in their sheaths and notched an arrow in her bow. Hermes brought out his caduceus and held it up. A flash of light happened and when it died he held a dual sided spear. The crowd went silent in anticipation as Percy called out,

"Begin."

Artemis immediately shot an arrow at Hermes, the arrow flew faster than some of the campers could keep up with but Hermes knocked it aside with one end of his spear. Hermes began to run at Artemis who shot another arrow, Hermes ducked and continued running. Arriving at her he made a thrust with his spear which Artemis side-stepped and dodged. She pulled out her knives and went to work trying to get under Hermes' tight defensive stance.

She slashed towards his chest as he blocked with one end of the spear, before she could react her wheeled around and swung towards her face with the other end. It made contact and Artemis recoiled back from the gash she just received across her face. Hermes, knowing she was injured, then get cocky. He tried to finish her off with a spear thrust to the gut but Artemis recovered from the slash and caught the spear shaft between her blades. She made a sawing motion and the spear snapped clean in half. She then followed by kicking Hermes in the chest and he went flying back. At this point the fight was over, Artemis notched an arrow and before Hermes could recover from the kick, shot it straight at his face. The moment the arrow touched his forehead he disappeared and re-appeared on the side cowering from the arrow he thought was still coming.

"The winner is Artemis," said Percy over the roar from the crowd.

She took a deep breath, and shouldered her bow. Percy walked over to her, snapped his fingers and the wound on her face disappeared. She bowed to him then took her place with the other gods. Percy then announced,

"Next is Athena vs. Hera."

The crowd started quickly snickering, they knew this would be a blow-out. Arguably the best fighter of the gods against one of the worst. Athena walked confidently to the center and brought out her spear and shield. Hera, never being one to fight with weapons, walked to the center and brought out a simple short sword and a round shield. Percy shook his head and said,

"Begin."

Hera raised her shield and began walking slowly towards Athena who was analyzing her enemy for weak points. Finding several, she strode forward to meet her in the middle. When they got to one another, Hera made her first and last mistake, she swiped around, trying to catch Athena's side. Athena rammed the sword out of Hera's hand with her shield and with one simple thrust, Hera was on the sidelines. The crowd erupted in cheers, a complete blowout, just like they thought. Percy said,

"The winner is Athena."

She shouldered her shield, and walked back to the sidelines. Not wasting any time Percy then called out,

"Next up is Zeus vs. Poseidon."

Everyone in the arena quieted down, they knew this was one fight that shouldn't be missed. Everybody knew the two brothers had a fierce rivalry, now it was time to finally settle who the better fighter was.

Poseidon walked into position and brought out his mighty trident. Zeus also walked to his place and brought out his master bolt. Knowing he could not use the power of it, he changed it into a shining, white spear. They readied themselves and Percy said,

"Begin."

Unlike the previous battles, neither one moved forward, but began circling one another. They were looking for weak points and sizing up their opponent. The circle ended when both simultaneously dashed forward and the battle began. Zeus started off by swiping his spear in a wide arc in front of him. Poseidon stepped back to avoid the spear, twisted around and followed with a swipe of his own. Zeus blocked the spear with his own. Poseidon then tried to head-butt his brother but Zeus stepped back out of range. While Poseidon recovered from his miss Zeus took advantage and thrust his spear towards his brother. It looked like the fight was over but at the last second Poseidon swatted the spear away and went back into a defensive stance.

After a few more seconds, Poseidon decided to go on the offensive, with a bound forward, he feigned like he was going to thrust his trident forward, which caused Zeus to bring his spear to the side to block the thrust. Knowing his brother had taken the bait, he then swung his trident around and slammed Zeus in the side of the head with the other end of his trident.

Zeus was spun around and fell to the ground, spitting ichor out of his mouth. Poseidon then went in for the kill with a thrust downward, out of nowhere though Zeus rolled and swept Poseidon off his feet. Injured, Zeus did not strike down at his brother like he should have, but backed up and addressed his wound. Poseidon took the opportunity and rolled up into a standing position.

Now injured, Zeus played defense. The two went back and forth a few times, dodging, blocking, and occasionally giving the other a minor wound. The fight had been going on for two minutes at this point, far longer than the other two had taken. Zeus had a gash across the left side of his face, a minor cut on his right arm, and had a black eye from a right hook that Poseidon had sent. Poseidon had a small cut on his left shoulder and a bloody nose from a time where Zeus head butted him.

The fight ended though with Zeus making a critical mistake. Poseidon had thrust his trident out towards Zeus's head and Zeus had attempted to end the fight by side-stepping and impaling Poseidon while he was off balance. But Poseidon was ready for him as he caught the spear, kneed Zeus in the stomach. This caused Zeus to double over in pain and Poseidon took the opening, twisted around and thrust his trident down through his brother's back.

Zeus appeared on the sideline. He fell to his knees and made a grumbling expression but sat down as he knew he had been fairly beaten. Percy announced,

"The winner is Poseidon."

After Percy healed both their wounds, Poseidon made his way to the sidelines and held out his hand for his brother to shake. Zeus looked like he was going to deny it, but then reluctantly shook it. The crowd roared with approval. Percy then announced,

"Alright three down, three to go in the first round. Next up is Demeter and Aphrodite."

-Line break-

Demeter had barely managed to beat Aphrodite by performing a slash that would have taken Aphrodite's head off, but of course she then appeared on the sidelines without serious injury. Ares had demolished Hephaestus by cutting both arms off and then impaling him through the face. Hephaestus was fuming on the sidelines, everybody knew Ares would win, but he didn't have to be a jerk about it. Nobody was surprised though, it was in Ares' nature to be a bully. Then lastly Apollo had managed to beat Dionysus by impaling him through the stomach after a short fight.

The second round would be Artemis vs. Athena, Poseidon vs. Demeter, and Ares vs. Apollo. Each of the second round fight took less than thirty seconds. Athena had impaled Artemis through the chest, Poseidon had cut Demeter into three pieces with a vicious downward slash, and Ares had cut Apollo's head off.

The eliminated gods went to sit in the stands as the remaining gods walked to the center where Percy was waiting. The third round was about to begin. Percy announced,

"The final round will be a three way match, last one standing wins. Again no powers and good luck. Begin."

Percy walked to the sideline as the three combatants took their stances. Poseidon and Athena sent a quick glance at each other, silently making a temporary agreement to eliminate the third wheel. Athena and Poseidon disliked each other, but they each loathed Ares. A temporary alliance made, the closed in on Ares. He realized what was happening and made a loud battle cry and ran for his opponents. He had a sword in each hand so reaching them he attempted to end it early with a double slash that would have taken both their heads off. Athena raised her shield and Poseidon ducked, they followed by both thrusting their weapons forward and with a flash, Ares was in the stands. After a lot of cursing, threatening, and shouting, he finally calmed down enough to watch the fight.

The moment Ares disappeared, Athena attempted to end the fight right there and twisted with a slash aimed for Poseidon's chest. He saw the strike coming and ducked, rolling out of range. Now with their being only two, the analyzed the other. Athena looking regal and elegant with a spear and shield, Poseidon looking massive and powerful with his mighty trident.

Athena had yet to face an opponent with equal reach from their weapon so she switched tactics, staying out of range of Poseidon's trident. She went in for a thrust and Poseidon countered, knocking the spear away with the end of his trident. She wheeled around trying to slam him with her shield the way she had tried with Percy in training. She made contact and Poseidon flew across the arena. She had misjudged how hard she hit him, and knocked him clear out of range so before she could follow up, he was back on his feet…

Over ten minutes later the two were still fighting. Athena had lost her shield when Poseidon had kicked her and ripped the shield away then tossing it into the stands. The fight ended in such a way that nobody expected…

Athena twirled and tried to slash at Poseidon but he caught the spear and brought it down to the ground. He lifted his foot and kicked down on it, snapping it in half. He then elbowed her in the face and she fell to the ground. Poseidon threw the win away by twisting in place other than simply thrusting down which would have ended the match. As the twisted Athena had time to grab half of her spear, as Poseidon brought the trident down on her, she thrust up with her spear half. Simultaneously her spear point pierced his stomach and his trident impaled her throat.

The both of them disappeared and a moment later appeared next to a smiling Percy. He announced,

"The result is a draw, the winners are Athena and Poseidon."

The campers went nuts, it was an amazing fight and nobody saw that coming. Percy continued,

"As promised, Athena and Poseidon have the rest of the week off. The rest of you, report to your assigned locations for training for the remainder of the training period. Annabeth and Olympians excluding Athena and Poseidon, we will began training after a twenty minute break. Dismissed."


	32. Wedding Plans

-3rd Person POV-

For the next two weeks, training went along mostly without a hitch. An Angel and an Aphrodite camper had gone at it after the camper refused to get out of bed one morning, a Hermes camper was sentenced to kitchen duty for the duration of the Angels stay after a failed prank on one of the Angels, but other than that everybody was progressing in their training. The gods had even come around and had started expanding their power after a few convicting speeches by Percy. All seemed well, which made Percy nervous.

One night Percy and the Leaders were sparring in Chaos Park while Annabeth and some Angels watched. Percy was armed with Riptide while the Leaders were all trying to disarm him.

"It just seems off, I had expected an attack by now. The enemy knows we are here, and if they know that they must know the campers are being trained," said Percy.

After his sword swinging and missing Percy's left side Luke said,

"What's your point Percy?"

Disarming Aurora then kicking her away Percy replied,

"My point is that the enemy is allowing us more time to prepare for battle. The longer he delays, the stronger the host of Olympus becomes. The enemy is either a fool, or there is some benefit to waiting. If that is the case we are better off taking the offensive now."

With Aurora, Leo, Silena, and Beckendorf disarmed, that left only Calypso and Luke sparring with a barely focused Percy. Calypso attempted to feign a spear thrust then hoped to follow with a leg sweep to knock Percy to the ground. Even minimally interested in the fight, Percy could see Calypso's arm hardly extended, a dead giveaway of a distraction move. Taking this into account he simply moved inside the thrust and smashed his hilt against Calypso's chest armor, knocking her backwards and taking her out of commission.

This of course left only Luke who was used to being the last one standing against Percy, but he was also used to being the last one to be knocked out. Raising his two swords, he slashed upward with his left while at the same time swiped across with his right, hoping this would either be the first time Percy lost a sparring match in years, or at least force him to step backwards. Neither happened as Percy ducked under the swiping swing, then caught the other blade on his and threw it out of Luke's hand. Before Percy could finish him off though Luke backed up and spun around to avoid Percy's roundhouse kick aimed for Luke's head.

Surprised that Luke had been able to avoid Percy's attack, the small crowd grew more excited and watched closely. Luke noticed the crowd and got arrogant because of it, trying to follow up with something even better, He decided not to retrieve his second blade, but rather advanced towards Percy with only a single sword.

Filled with adrenalin from dodging an attack from the Commander, along with the excited crowd, Luke tried to end the fight and made a quick thrust towards Percy's chest. Faster than anybody could follow, Percy caught the blade on his own, locked his hilt with Luke's and twisted. The ancient sword move worked perfectly and Luke's blade dropped to the ground. Percy followed with a spinning back kick that sent Luke flying into the wall.

The fight over with, Percy walked grinning over to Luke and offered him a hand saying,

"You always go for the same kill Luke."

Luke smiled and grasped Percy's hand. Standing up he replied,

"I know I just naturally revert back to the first move I learned when I lose my composure."

Percy nodded and addressed the crowd,

"Alright my friends, the show is over, go enjoy yourselves."

The Angels all shouted,

"Yes Commander."

With that they went off to their various activities for the night. Percy scanned the crowd and saw a beautiful young woman with long gray hair. She was staring at him with a smile on her face. Percy made his way over to her, when he did she said mockingly,

"They act like they've never seen somebody dodge an attack from you."

Percy laughed and replied,

"It doesn't happen very often anymore. When I first joined Chaos I got my butt kicked almost every day. It took a good fifty years before I was considered one of the best swordsman on Genesis."

Annabeth smiled sadly then made a pained face and looked down. Percy asked with a worried expression,

"What is it?"

Annabeth kept her gaze on the ground and shook her head. Percy put Riptide away, jumped over the railing and embraced Annabeth saying,

"Annabeth what's wrong?"

She scrunched her eyebrows and answered,

"It's just, hearing about your life while I wasn't in it, it brings back all the pain and guilt. It makes me ashamed of myself for what was done to you. It's getting better but sometimes it just hurts."

Percy lifted her head with his finger and said,

"Listen, that was a lifetime ago and you did nothing wrong. You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. All is forgiven and forgotten."

Annabeth smiled and hugged Percy back. She felt a falling sensation out of nowhere and the next moment the two were in Percy's chambers.

"Figured it's more private," said Percy and he stuck his tongue out at her.

A voice suddenly came from the doorway,

"Actually the privacy will have to wait my son."

Percy and Annabeth spun around and saw Chaos leaning casually against the door frame. Right now he had taken his woman form, probably to make Annabeth more comfortable. Percy immediately bowed and replied,

"Lord Chaos, what brings you here?"

Chaos rolled his eyes and replied,

"Again Percy enough with the formal titles. You will someday learn how unnecessary they are."

Percy shook his head and said,

"Hopefully I never do, but why the sudden visit?"

"I have assignments I need taken care of. And I thought I would come deliver them personally to you and your lovely fiancé," Chaos replied.

Percy narrowed his eyes, he knew something was going on but couldn't place his finger on it. He said,

"Alright Chaos what are you up to?"

Chaos held his hands up, put on a mock face of surprise and replied,

"I merely wanted to see my favorite son and his bride-to-be. Am I not allowed to do that?"

Percy replied,

"Of course you are, you're the creator. But normally you give assignments over a holo call. Yet here you are in person. Not that I don't enjoy being in your presence, but I think there's another reason why you came here."

Chaos smiled and nodded saying,

"You're right of course, I have one tiny ulterior motive for coming."

Annabeth asked,

"What is it Lord Chaos?"

Chaos made a frown at Annabeth and replied,

"Please child do not take after Percy with the titles. You may simply call me Chaos. And in regards to your question, I have come to give you my blessing, and to ask when you two will stop dragging your feet, I haven't had the honor of performing a wedding in a very long time."

Annabeth and Percy immediately began blushing. Annabeth smiled and looked down while Percy answered,

"Actually, we have made a decision. We agreed that since you are the reason we are even able to marry, we would like you to choose where we wed. Our only request is that you make the decision before next week, as we would like to get married sometime next month."

Chaos stared at Percy for a long time. After almost a minute Percy began to worry that he had somehow angered Chaos. Just when Percy was about to speak Chaos asked,

"You want me to play a part in the planning of your wedding?"

Percy replied,

"Only if you want to, we understand if that is beneath you."

Chaos shook his head, made a short laugh and said,

"To help plan the wedding on my favorite son and his fiancé would be an honor. I will give you my answer by week's end."

Percy looked at Annabeth and the two shared a kiss before looking back to Chaos who said,

"Thank you, both of you. You have given an old being one last thing to look forward to."

At this comment Percy let go of Annabeth's hand, walked up to Chaos and hugged him. It was the first time the two had ever hugged. They had shared physical touch before in the form of a handshake or Chaos ruffling Percy's hair, but this was the first time they had ever had an interaction so fatherly.

After a few second Percy backed up and Chaos said,

"Alright before you make me cry, let us speak of assignments"

Poll

Where do you want the wedding to be?

Allistar beach

Camp half blood

Chaos's Throne Room (or somewhere else on Genesis)

Chaos Park

Other (please specify)


	33. An Awkward Moment

-Annabeth POV-

The next morning I awoke earlier than usual. I looked over and saw 5:42 on the clock, might as well get out of bed. Making my way to Percy's room I opened the door and saw him sleeping on his bed. I tip toed over the random articles of clothing and armor strewn around his messy room and crawled into bed next to him.

He sleeps so deeply that I'm able to snuggle up next to him without him waking, seems like a bad thing for somebody with so many enemies, but I guess he's just comfortable enough in his own room to be able to sleep soundly.

I spend the next ten minutes just staring at his perfect face, breathing in his amazing sea breath. It is in these moments I realize that these past few weeks have been the first time in years that I have been able to sleep through the night. From the first sleepless night after Percy left, I have never been able to get more than a few hours' sleep at a time. Being a god lessened the effects of insomnia, but it didn't help the void in my heart I lived with through every dark, lonely night.

-Flashback-

_I am standing on the big house porch wondering what I'm doing here. My thoughts are interrupted when I look up and see Percy on top of Half Blood Hill, he's being sucked into a black circle. No, what's happening? I yell out,_

"_Percy hold on!"_

_I try to run but my legs feel like jelly. I try to jump to get my legs moving but this just causes me to fall on my face. For Zeus's sake, I'm a god what's going on. I hear a scream and look up to see a mortifying sight, Percy is halfway through the dark portal and desperately trying to get out. _

_With one final attempt to get to him I try to stand, but there's a woman with her foot on my back. I look up to see the face of a devil, Hecate. She says,_

"_Now spawn of Athena, watch your precious Percy get what he deserves."_

_I look up and see Percy's face disappearing into the portal. His face is one of absolute terror and I began to weep uncontrollably. I look back to Hecate ready to fight her but she is already raising a golden knife. She looks poised to end me as she says,_

"_Now it's your turn little hero."_

_She laughs and brings the knife down…_

The next moment I am in my bed at home. Ugh, it just a dream. Part of me is relieved to look around and see the familiar dusty shelves, the other part of me longs for the last part of the dream to be real. I would never admit this is anybody, but I have long wished for death, even planned it out once or twice. I know that is unbefitting of a daughter of Athena, or any living person for that matter, but lately I have begun to lose hope that I will ever get better. It's been two hundred years since he was banished, but the nightmares are still as vibrant and terrifying as ever.

I take a sip of nectar from the cup on my nightstand and drag myself over to the window. I look out and see the same thing I see every morning: immortal beings without a care in the world. Happy people who have forever to experience the joy immortality is supposed to being. I shake my head and turn around to get ready for whatever the next empty day brings…

-End flashback-

One would think that after endless dreams as bad as or worse than that would leave a person broken beyond repair, but as I stare at his face, I realize I am being healed. The dark corners of my heart that for so long were void of essence are being filled once again with love for this extraordinary man next to me.

I can't help myself as I lean in and press my lips against his. My eyes are closed so I don't see his open until he begins to kiss me back. When I opened them I am mesmerized by the beauty and depth of his eyes. His eyes always reflect the ocean, but for all I was worth, now they seemed even more beautiful. His pupils are so small that his entire eye had a deep jade color. I gasp involuntarily and when I do he pulls back and asks,

"Are you alright?"

I am more than alright, I am completely overwhelmed by the happiness that I am experiencing right now. Not wanting to show how much I hopelessly adore him I casually reply,

"Yeah of course, just kind of tired."

He scrunches his eyebrows, makes a face and says,

"Alright, you looked like you were about to pass out."

I quickly shook my head. But oh how right he was. I mentally take a sigh of relief that he is still a seaweed brain, no need to tell him that I may possibly be bordering on having an obsession with him.

He yawns and leans up to stretch. I notice for the first time that he is without a shirt. Wow how did I not notice that? I instantly begin to blush and I get butterflies in my stomach. Of course he sees this and does the natural thing and goes with it. He gets a coy smile on his face and says,

"Am I distracting you Wise Girl?"

Two can play at that game. I remember that I am wearing nothing but a nightgown, I mentally smile as I realize that it is my short, dark blue one. I take a deep breath and take the blanket off of me.

His reaction completely killed any concentration I had before unveiling myself. He instantly moved and pressed himself against me, then followed by taking my face into his hands and began to kiss me like he never had before.

As a daughter of Athena, I pride myself on being intellectually advanced. I am almost always thinking about something and at any one point my brain is going in several different directions. Now for the second time this month, my mind went completely blank, no rational thoughts, no control, just pure bliss. After only a few short, glorious moments though, a sharp intake of breath came from the door. Irrational anger exploded inside of me, who the Hades was that?

All the anger disappeared when I looked and saw Aurora standing in the threshold, a look of pure pain on her face. Percy immediately backed up and said,

"Aurora what is it?"

I could tell she was staring at his bare chest, her eyes were wide and I looked away from embarrassment. After a moment I looked back at her. She composed herself, cleared her throat and said,

"Commander there is something I wish to speak to you about. But if this is a bad time I will come back later."

Not wanting to be the clingy, fiancé, and wanting to help ease her discomfort I said to her,

"No Aurora please, if you need to speak with him by all means, please do."

I looked at Percy and said,

"I'm sorry."

He smiled and replied,

"Don't be, it was my reaction that caused that."

He kissed my briefly and I jumped up. I cringed when I saw Aurora's face fall as she surveyed my apparel. How stupid could I be? I had forgotten about my less than appropriate outfit, now she was probably thinking were about to get it on or something. Just wanting to end the awkward moment, I hurried out the door.

-Percy POV-

I woke up to the feel of soft lips on mine. Knowing it was Annabeth, I opened my eyes and began to kiss her back. Her eyes slowly opened and when they did she gasped as if in pain. I immediately backed off and asked,

"Are you alright?"

For a moment she looked like she was going to faint. She then said somewhat defensively,

"Yeah of course, just kind of tired."

Uh huh… I knew something was off but decided to let it pass so I said,

"Alright, you looked like you were about to pass out."

She shook her head sharply so I guess she was honestly just a little tired. I yawn and get up to stretch. When I do her face gets a deep red shade and she looked down at the bed. I realize I am not where a shirt so I smile and ask,

"Am I distracting you Wise Girl?"

Big mistake, she was never one to back down from a challenge. She smiled mockingly and took off the blankets. I could see almost everything. She was wearing a short, blue gown that showed her perfect, lean legs. The top of it was tightly conformed to her toned stomach. Before I could even get to her chest I lost all willpower.

Without thinking, I moved up to her and pressed myself against her beautiful body and began kissing her. The small part of my brain that was still rational worried that I had taken it too far, but was relieved when she responded just as passionately and kissed me back. It was perfect, better than flying, better than the feeling I get in the Realm of Creation. It was the single most pleasurable thing I had ever experienced. And in less than five seconds, it was over.

In the process of feeling up her left leg, I heard an intake of air from the door. I looked over and saw that it was Aurora. Oh jeez, she knew Annabeth and I loved each other but seeing this wasn't going to help her in her process of moving on. I backed away from Annabeth and said,

"Aurora what is it?"

She stared lustfully at me so I pulled the blanket up to cover my chest. At the same time Annabeth looked down blushing. Aurora seemed to pull herself together and said,

"Commander there is something I wish to speak to you about. But if this is a bad time I will come back later."

Ugh again with the titles, I could see why Chaos got so irritated when people close to him refer to him as Lord. Before I could reply Annabeth said,

"No Aurora please, if you need to speak with him by all means, please do."

I smiled at Annabeth, she knew this was hard for Aurora and was trying to ease her pain. She looked up at me and said,

"I'm sorry"

I shook my head and replied,

"Don't be, it was my reaction that caused that."

I kissed her and she jumped up. Any awkwardness that had dissipated immediately came back when Aurora saw Annabeth's revealing outfit. Aurora made a pained face and Annabeth quickly walked out of the room. Oh gods this is awkward.

After Annabeth was gone Aurora looked back and forth from the door to me as if she was considering just leaving. I wanted to ease her discomfort so I snapped my fingers and in a moment was dressed in simple khaki shorts and a t-shirt. I got out of bed and gestured to a chair saying,

"Aurora please sit down, you know you may speak to me at any time about anything."

This seemed to make her a bit more comfortable as she nodded and sat down in the nearest armchair. She said,

"Sir I wish to make a request."

Ugh this is so annoying, after so many years you would think she would cut the formalities. Wow I really do sound like Chaos. I replied,

"Aurora you are one of my best friends and you have known me for hundreds of years. Please, please drop the formalities when you are with me."

This seemed to put her at ease as she smiled slightly and nodded. After a moment she said,

"Percy I wish to scout the enemy. I am tired of not knowing who the enemy is and how formidable his army."

I nodded, it was standard procedure that after an extended period of time without verified intelligence on the enemy, one of the Leaders would scout ahead to get an idea of what we were up against. The only thing that made me nervous was that Chaos had mentioned sensing old blood. I knew Aurora badly wanted to scout ahead, but the last thing I wanted was for her to fall into the hands of an evil primordial.

She seemed to notice my hesitance and asked,

"Are you not confident in my abilities Percy?"

I laughed shortly and replied,

"I am totally confident in your abilities. But this is different, we aren't facing minor gods or petty criminals. We very well may be dealing with a primordial. If you were to be caught, if you were to be harmed, if I were responsible for your death, I would never forgive myself."

She said without hesitation,

"Percy every breath I take, every moment I am alive is a gift. The gods, the titans, they think themselves immortal but we both know they're not, none of us are. True immortality is something nobody processes, the fact that Chaos is fading proves that. When you saved me I was given more time, but whether by the sword or the slow decay of time, someday I will die."

I opened my mouth to say something but she was on a roll and continued,

"I know I have to let you go, I have to move on. But you have an equally important and difficult task, you have to stop trying to protect me from everything."

I exhaled and stayed quiet, she was right. For years I had considered it my sole duty to keep her safe. Normally in dangerous situations such as these I would scout ahead myself, but since she already requested it, doing it myself would highly offend her. I still did not want her going but I knew I could not convince her otherwise. So trying a different strategy I asked,

"What does Luke think?"

That was the chink in her armor, she grimaced and replied,

"Luke wants me to be happy, and if scouting the enemy makes me happy, he accepts that."

Knowing she had completely avoided the question I asked,

"What does he really think?

She pursed her lips and stayed quiet for a moment before saying,

"He said if I am adamant about it then I should be allowed to go. But truthfully he thinks it's a bad idea."

I nodded and said,

"I agree."

She shook her head and quickly said,

"Luke is too overprotective. I know my ability, and I must insist upon you allowing me the sole responsibility to scout the enemy."

I knew I had lost, there was no point in arguing with her. So relenting I told her,

"Fine, Aurora I am tasking you with scouting the enemy's formation. Gather information on the size, location, strength, and plans of the enemy. Secondarily, if you can find out the identity of the leader of the army that would also be helpful information."

She smiled widely and replied,

"Thank you sir, I won't let you down."

She jumped up to prepare but before she could, I grabbed her arm without thinking. The moment my skin touched hers she lost all concentration and sighed. I cursed my stupidity, released her arm and said,

"Aurora, if you are harmed in any way, I will hold you personally responsibly. Get the information, but be safe and get yourself back here."

She stared at the spot where our skin had met for a moment.

"Understood Percy," she said, then without another word left to make her preparations.


	34. A New Friend

-Annabeth POV-

I was standing on a balcony looking out over Chaos Park. Since Percy had allowed the campers inside Chaos Cabin there were tons of people hanging out. Small groups of people were all over the place, there was a football game going on, some people playing cards, and others were sparring, but most were laying around enjoying the light from Percy's sun.

It made me smile to see everybody getting along so well. According to Percy, most of the Angels came to earth with grudges against camp for what had happened to Percy. But it seemed that everything was forgotten as the two groups now mingled freely with each other.

Even though I was very happy at the sight, I still knew war was coming, perhaps even almost here. Percy was expecting an attack any day, the nature spirits had reported in that the earth seemed to be holding its breath, as if something terrible were about to happen. Most people were confident in our ability to defend ourselves now equipped with Angelic training. I however knew a bit more, Percy was nervous, and if he was nervous then we should all be nervous.

My somber thoughts were interrupted by somebody clearing their throat. I turned around and saw Aurora standing in the doorway. She cleared her throat once more and said,

"Forgive me Annabeth, I had no idea I was intruding and it will not happen again."

She turned to leave but I said to her,

"Aurora can I tell you something?"

She stopped, slowly turned and replied,

"Yes."

A combination of emotions swelled inside of me, on one hand I felt pity for this person. She was absolutely devoted and loved somebody that did not feel the same way. She would die for this person yet would never have the heart of that person. On the other hand I had no idea what she thought of me, she obviously had some kind of resentment towards me. I tried to sum up my feelings and said,

"You are one of bravest, strongest, most loyal people I have even met, and I am so happy that Percy saved you. I know you probably don't trust me, you may even dislike me, but I want you to know that I hope you and I can be friends."

She seemed to ponder my words for a moment. She walked over to the railing, put her arms on the top and looked out over the Park. After a few moments she said,

"Annabeth, I know I need to move on from Percy. Holding on to impossible love is foolish. I know that in my mind but my heart is taking longer to move on. He is like an older brother in the sense that he has saved me and watched out for me since the moment he met me. And for him, it ends there. But for me it goes so far beyond that. I know you may not understand that, but I would like to ask you to be patient with me. I will move on, I have no doubt about that. I would just appreciate a little patience, and if possible for the whole "walking in on shirtless Percy" incidents to be kept to a strict minimum."

I laughed freely at the last part, seeing me laugh she smiled also and began to laugh. After a few seconds I answered,

"You may not believe it, but I know exactly how you feel."

She made a confused face and said,

"How could you know how I feel?"

Images of Luke watching over me from the time I was a child to a teenager came back and I found myself saying.

"Because for a long time I felt the same way about Luke."

She snorted and said,

"Oh this is perfect, the girl who holds the heart of the man I love once sought to hold the heart of the man that now loves me."

I grimaced at her words. I hadn't really thought through that part before speaking. I opened my mouth to apologize but she beat me to it and said,

"I'm sorry."

She closed her eyes and for a few moments and pinched her temples. She looked like she had something else to say so I stayed quiet. After a few deep breaths she said,

"Forgive me, Luke says I need to work on my temper, and he's right. When not in uniform I lack a filter. I sometimes say harsh things without thinking."

She opened her eyes and continued,

"Knowing that you can sympathize with my feelings helps. It doesn't ease the pain of Percy's rejection, but it helps me look at you in a more positive light. I have watched you closely over the time we have been here. You exhibit a deep love and loyalty to Percy. You'll have to forgive me but I don't believe your love for him is as strong as he deserves, but I can't hate you. You love him and you make him happier than I have ever seen. I know you weren't looking for forgiveness, in fact you didn't really do anything to be forgiven of, but I forgive you for having his love. I forgive you for doing what I never could."

I smiled and for a second we just laughed together. At the end of it she did something that surprised me, she got a very nervous look on her face before holding her arms out hesitantly.

It took me a moment to realize that she was looking for a hug, as soon as It clicked I did exactly that. In a strange way it was like hugging a sister. Her embrace was strong and she smelled like cherry.

After a few moments, we broke apart. I was shocked to realize that she was crying. When she saw that I had noticed she shook her head and said,

"I'm sorry I get emotional easily. Your approval is something I needed. It will make moving on from Percy much easier. But more importantly, I have gained a friend."

I laughed and asked,

"You sound like you don't have any."

She laughed as well and replied,

"You are the first person in a long time who wasn't in some way forced to be my friend. Percy saved me so he was kind of obligated to befriend me. All the others were kind of forced because of the Angels. So it's nice for somebody to befriend me purely for me."

We hugged one more time, after we broke apart she took a deep breath and said,

"Alright I have taken up enough of your time, go see Percy. I may not see you for a while and I am glad we departed as friends."

What did she mean? Had Percy given her an assignment? I asked,

"Why won't I see you for a while?"

She got a big smile on her face and said,

"I asked for the task of scouting the enemy and Percy assigned it to me."

Fear immediately crept into my heart. Percy had said the enemy might be a primordial. Not only that, but Tartarus, Gaea, and Uranus were the possibilities. I knew the Angelic Leaders were strong, but could they stand alone against a primordial?

She seemed to notice my fearful reaction and sighed before saying,

"I know you fear for my safety, Percy and Luke share your concern. I feel that this is my responsibility though, I don't know why."

I said,

"If Percy and Luke don't want you going then why are you?

She shook her head before replying,

"They worry too much, I am the most skilled hunter of the Leaders and my skills include tracking and scouting. I know my ability Annabeth and I don't doubt my ability to complete this task."

She said it with such confidence that for a moment my fear disappeared, but I knew deep down it was still dangerous. Though seeing her determined expression in the face of adversity was something I knew all too well, and I knew we had to trust her. So giving up the possibility of convincing her otherwise I said,

"I have no illusion that you will listen to me, but I just want to warn you to be careful. You are important to Percy and Luke and many more. Be safe Aurora."

She smiled and nodded her head. Looking back over the Park, she enjoyed the view for a few moments. After a small amount of time she leaned back, and jumped over the railing, flying over the park out of Chaos cabin to make her final preparations.

-Line break-

-Percy POV-

A few minutes after Aurora left, Annabeth walked in. She had her thinking face on so the moment she sat down on my bed I asked,

"What's up Wise Girl?"

She looked up and pursed her lips before saying,

"I don't doubt your decision in the least, but do you think letting Aurora scout ahead by herself is the wisest decision?"

Oh jeez, Aurora had spoken to her. I made a mental note to ask her later how the conversation went. Judging on the fact that Annabeth did not look offended or upset, I would guess it went well. Plus the fact that Annabeth seemed concerned for Aurora's safety gave me hope that maybe the two of them could possible become friends. Getting back to Annabeth's question, I wanted to get her opinion before giving my own I asked,

"Well you're the daughter of the wisdom goddess. What do you think?"

As if she planned on giving me her two cents anyway she said without hesitation,

"I think it's a terrible idea and if the enemy is who you fear it may be, she could be in serious danger."

I groaned, that was exactly what I didn't want her to say. I wanted her to tell me that Luke and I were being too protective and that there was nothing to worry about. But no Annabeth had to agree with us, she too thought Aurora was being put in unnecessary danger. I shook my head and said,

"That's what I was afraid of. That is two people whose opinion I take very seriously who don't believe she should do this. Along with my own caution, I am beginning to think I should just call her back."

Annabeth took the next words out of my mouth and said,

"She would be very hurt if you called her back. She feels that she needs to do this Percy."

I was taken aback, how much had they talked about? She seemed to notice my confusion because she smiled and said,

"I seem to have made a new friend. I don't know a whole lot about her but I do know that she feels this is her duty. As much as I would love for her to be called back, she would resent you and probably Luke and myself."

I nodded before saying,

"We will let her continue, but at the first sign of danger I am bringing her back. Do you agree?"

She nodded her head.

After a couple more seconds of silent thinking I looked up to the clock, noticed the time and said,

"Alright enough depressing talk, let's have dinner."


	35. The Enemy

-Annabeth POV-

Two weeks passed before we heard anything from Aurora. Percy said this was normal, that in order to keep under the radar, sometimes unique tactics were needed. Him, myself, and some other people had just finished the day's training and were relaxing on the beach while he explained how scouting missions worked,

"The objective for a scouting mission is never crystal clear, different information is needed for different situations. Sometimes, unusual tactics must be employed to gather the information. Luke had to pose as a drug dealer from a planet in Sector 6 one time. Six months went by without any word from him. We knew nothing had happened because if it had, Chaos would have known right away, but we still went a long time without hearing from him. Then one day he signaled in with the needed information to prosecute the target. So two weeks without word is not something to worry ourselves with."

Some kid from Ares cabin, I think his name is David, said,

"Why even bother putting them on trial? Wouldn't it be faster just to kill them?"

A few Angels present chuckled while Percy smiled slightly. Leave it to the child of Ares to immediately resort to bloodshed as a solution. One Angel said,

"We aren't murderers, we don't enjoy killing people."

Percy nodded his head in agreement and added,

"If we swung our swords at everybody who broke the law, firstly there would be trillions less people in the universe. Secondly it would make us no better than our enemies. The vast majority of crimes aren't worthy of death."

Another Angel said,

"Does the American government execute every petty thief or traffic violator?"

David scowled but shook his head and said,

"No, I guess I see your point."

Percy nodded and continued,

"Back to Aurora, in all fairness, Luke's mission was to infiltrate a gang over 20 trillion miles away from Genesis. Some of the reason it took so long was because of the vast distance. Since the enemy is on the same planet as us, I doubt it will be much longer before she makes her first report."

As if on cue, Percy's wrist began to blink and he pressed a button on his wrist band. A tiny image of Aurora appeared. You couldn't see any of her surroundings but you could tell that she was crouched down as if behind something. Percy made a motion with his hands. Several of the campers got confused looks on their faces but I figured it was in case enemies were close by and speaking would alert them. She nodded her head and gave a thumbs up. The next second the image disappeared. Now I was confused as were the rest of the campers. The Angels however nodded their heads and looked relieved.

Noticing our confusion Percy said,

"Aurora is fine. She had found the enemy and is currently gathering information."

A girl from Hephaestus cabin asked,

"What was that all about?"

Percy answered,

"She was behind enemy lines and if we would have spoken, her mission could have been compromised. She was checking in to let me know she was fine."

-Aurora POV-

I clicked off my wrist communicator and crouched back down behind the boulder I was hiding behind. Yet another battalion of monsters had just passed through the ravine. It seemed strangely appropriate that the enemy was using Death Valley as a base of operations.

Part of me wanted to bring out my blade and cut down these fools, but Luke had warned me not to be careless, and I promised Percy I would be safe. And as much as I longed for the thrill of battle, I had to keep my word.

Once the battalion passed by, I pressed a button on my wrist armor and my body disappeared, I silently thanked Luke once again for the stealth generator he had given me a few centuries ago. Sneaking out of the ravine, I saw the expanse of the valley.

As far as earthly sights went, it was impressive. Vast amounts of space ringed by mountains on all sides. There was an evil aura about the place though. It was the middle of the day and it was almost as dark as night. Thick, black clouds covered the valley and it was raining with lightning striking the barren ground every couple of seconds.

I followed the army as it marched farther into the valley. In the middle, there was a massive fenced in camp set up in a flat area. A small hill was right next to me so I scaled it to get a better view. When I did I saw countless shanty tents surrounding a mini city in the center. There were no more than five small buildings but on the south side of the city was a massive rectangular building. It looked fortified, maybe a bunker of some sort.

I began running towards the camp. After a few seconds I passed the marching battalion then after a few more reached the edge of the camp. Before me stood a massive gate made from black steel that had purple energy sparking off of it. Thinking nothing of it I took a few steps back, bounded forward and jumped over the gate.

Landing, I looked around in every direction to make sure nobody noticed me. Now that I was inside the camp I was surrounded by monsters, humans, and other beasts I did not recognize. Normally I would start hacking off heads, but this was not an infiltration attack, it was scouting. Plus there was no need as I was invisible and my generator masked my scent so I had no worry of being caught. Bringing out two short blades just in case of confrontation, I made my way to the city center…

-Line Break-

After passing several security checkpoints, mini-bunkers, and thousands of monsters, I stood before the rectangular building. Heavily armed guards stood at each entrance and several more were patrolling the area around the building, must be headquarters. I looked up the stairs and saw a massive black door barring the entrance, I needed a plan.

I immediately ruled out teleportation, which was only a viable option when I was familiar with the place I would be teleporting to. Not knowing the layout of the building, I was just as likely to find myself impaled on someone's sword than in a beneficial scouting spot. Only Percy and Chaos could pass through solid objects so that was out.

I had two options, firstly I could take my chances and try to fight my way through, which would effectively ruin my mission. The second, more practical option was to cause a distraction. Looking around, I took in my surroundings.

Twenty feet ahead and then ten stairs leading to a small courtyard area with four guards on each side of the door. Turrets on either side of the stairway. Fifty seven visible guards all heavily armed. Behind me stood the street path open for a possible escape route. Lastly a small outpost building no bigger than one of the camps cabins, likely with several more guards. Assuming each guard was slightly above the competency of the monsters that attacked camp, I figured I had less than a ten percent chance to defeat them all, fighting was out so it was time to improvise.

I decided to try deception, I made my way over to the outpost and looked inside. There was some sort of computer system set up against one of the walls, I assumed it was to control the door. Sneaking inside I noticed that there were three monsters with spears standing in various spots. Scanning the computer, I saw a large black lever that must be the door control, a large reptilian guard stood right in front of it.

I smiled slightly as a plan came to mind. I would sneak over to the monster, grab his weapon and slam it down on the lever. After which sprinting for the entrance. I needed the other guards to believe the reptilian one had either accidently or intentionally switched the lever, what happened to the guard wasn't something I really cared about. Of course I had no idea if I would have enough time to get inside the building, but I had to hope to Chaos I would. If not, I would have to regroup and try and come up with something else.

Before I could get cold feet, I went for it. Positioning myself for an easy escape to the door, I ran towards the guard. Grabbing his spear I dropped it down, he tried to back up but before he could back away from the console his spear point lowered the lever. The moment this happened a loud alarm went off and bright spotlights shone around the area. I rolled under the guard and ran out the door while hearing monsters shouting inside the outpost.

I looked up towards the door and saw it opening, it got to about ten feet wide then stopped. I poured on speed, dodged every guard that came close to me and prayed to Chaos that I would make it. When I got to the stairs the door began to close, jumping clear over the stairs I leapt into the air to try and squeeze inside the closing doors…

-Annabeth POV-

Most of the people who were with us at the beach had left, only myself, Percy, and ten or so Angels remained. The check-in from Aurora had lifted the spirits of most of the people and camp was buzzing with activity. Several sporting events were going on, some people were eating dinner, some were training, and others were just enjoying the beautiful weather.

Percy was out knee deep in the water making random shapes and designs with it. I watched him smiling, I was happy to see that he still had a playful side. He was swirling some water around his body when all of a sudden he went rigid and whispered quietly,

"No."

At once the present Angels disappeared and I sensed a large gathering behind me. Forcing my eyes away from Percy's horrified face, I turned around and saw the entire Angel army in formation, the five present Leaders out in front. My thoughts immediately turned to Aurora, something must have happened to her.

Looking back to Percy I saw him quickly walking towards me. He said in a barely controlled tone,

"Annabeth something has happened, we are having an Olympic meeting in Chaos Park now."

I nodded as he addressed the Angels,

"Angels Chaos Park now."

They shouted,

"Yes Commander."

At once they disappeared. The gods must have somehow been alerted because I saw flashes of light come down from the sky and travel towards Chaos Cabin. I looked around camp and saw that everybody was gone, already in Chaos Park if I had to guess. I asked Percy in a shaking tone,

"Percy what happened?"

He looked at me with an expression of agony, and with one word confirmed my fears,

"Aurora."


	36. The Rescue

-3rd Person POV-

Chaos Park was packed to the brim. The theatre was almost full as every Angel, camper, god, and spirit was in attendance waiting for things to get under way. Everyone was ready for a battle, the Angels were armed and in uniform, the gods were in their full war regalia, and everybody else had their weapons ready in case of attack. Nobody knew what was going on, but it was obvious that something was wrong.

The crowd went silent as Allistar, in uniform, appeared on the stage. Annabeth took her seat in the front row next to her mother and listened to what Allistar would say. He began,

"As many of you know, Aurora, the Leader of Beta squad is currently on a scouting mission. Two weeks ago she left camp to gather intelligence on the enemy. Earlier today I received a brief holo call from her confirming that she was safe and proceeding with the mission."

He paused and looked down for a moment. Annabeth started to stand to comfort him but he smiled sadly and gently held up his hand for her to sit down. After a few more moments he continued,

"Five minutes ago however, she sent me an emergency distress signal."

The crowd had mixed reactions to this news. The Angels reacted in either fear or concern. Nobody else knew exactly what this meant, but an emergency signal is never good while behind enemy lines. Allistar continued,

"The signal was sent from Death Valley, California. I can only assume that this is where the enemy is staging their operation. In response to this, the Angelic Leaders and I will be leaving immediately to investigate. We will bring her home and if all goes well, find the leader of this army."

The crowd was silent, processing this information, so Allistar finished,

"While we are gone, training will be cancelled. With the absence of myself and the Leaders, the head Angelic Trainers will be in charge of daily operations. Everyone is encouraged to continue their training in any way you see fit. But without the Angelic Leadership, I can't expect any beneficial training to happen. You are dismissed"

With that he looked to the Angelic Leaders and said,

"Let's go."

They shouted back, "Yes Commander."

-Percy POV-

The Leaders were standing at attention behind me as I walked up to Annabeth. She was terribly pale and trying not to meet my gaze. I stooped down and lifted her head to face me. She had tears in her eyes and the moment our eyes met she jumped up and engulfed me in a hug. She said shakily,

"Percy Jackson you promise me, promise me you will come home."

I hugged her back and said,

"I promise to come back you to. I told you nothing would ever separate us again. Everything will be fine, trust me."

She nodded into my shoulder. Needing to get moving I patted her back and said,

"I need to go Wise Girl."

She backed up and took a deep breath. After a moment she leaned in, kissed me briefly and said,

"Be safe, please."

I nodded and with one more hug, turned around to face the Leaders. They were all grim faced but ready to go. I took a deep breath, put on my helmet, and with a gust of wind, we were soaring through the sky, determined to save a captured friend…

-Line break-

We passed over the shining city of Las Vegas then within a few second landed on a small mountain that brushed up against Death Valley. The sky was dark and it was storming. Heavy rain came down while lightning streaked across the horizon. I said the Leaders behind me,

"Stay on guard and stay with me. We have no idea what we are facing and I am taking no chances."

They nodded and I turned around to access the valley.

The outskirts of the valley had not been touched, but the majority of the main area had been converted into a massive camp. A large gate ringed around a city of tents and small buildings. In the center was a small group of buildings with a large bunker on one side. As raindrops hit my helmet, I pressed a button on my earpiece, converting my helmet vision to heat vision.

The entire outer section of the camp showed no heat signatures. All the way around there was nothing. But as I looked to the city center, thousands of beings were tightly packed in front of the bunker looking building. Slade said,

"The camp is empty but the center looks like a siege defense. They know we're coming."

Thror added,

"They must have her inside that rectangular building. It could be a bunker of some sort"

Slade said,

"We can't waste any time, we need a plan of attack now."

Thror said confidently,

"I have a plan, attack."

With that he raised his hammer. Slade shook his head and said,

"This is Aurora we're talking about, if we bust in there guns-a-blazing, we will have sealed her fate."

Inferno looked to me and said,

"Allistar?"

After a moment of thought I said,

"I agree with Slade, we need to stay out of sight for as long as possible. The closer we get to Aurora without the enemy knowing we're here, the more likely we are to reach her alive."

Slade nodded quickly and although Thror disagreed, he lowered his head in acceptance immediately. Wanting to get underway I said,

"Slade I want you and Inferno to cover the southwest side, Atlan, Thror, and Arwin, you have the northwest side, I'll take point. We're going to come in from three side to lower our chances of being sighted. Regroup in front of the bunker building."

Slade asked,

"What are confrontation orders?"

I answered,

"Upon any resistance, dispatch them quickly and quietly. We are not here to cause a scene, we need to get at least to the exterior of that bunker before being noticed."

Each Leader nodded their heads and said quietly,

"Yes Commander."

They waited for my mark, I took a deep breath and said,

"Go."

At once we leapt from the mountain, touched down on the valley floor, and began sprinting to the camp. After two seconds the others forked off to either side, this left me alone charging towards a large black gate. I pushed back the urge to incline my head and demolish the gate, and instead jumped silently over it.

The moment I touched the ground I ran a quick mental scan of my surroundings. The gate behind me had no guards on or around it. Countless tents and shacks were scattered around, each of them empty. I looked to the center and saw a long road snaking through the tent city. So bringing out Riptide, I made my way up the path.

It took me only ten seconds to get out of the outer area of the camp. Putting the tent city behind me, the path opened up into a large, open area. Of course there were enemies everywhere. The city-center was on an artificial island. Bridges connected the outer camp to the center area and in the middle of the island stood the building.

The large bunker building had a set of stair that led up to a foyer area. I saw guards lined the walls and even more stood in front of the door. We would have to make our way there, then I would pass myself and the Leaders through the wall into the interior.

Looking at either side of the island, I saw the other Angels arrive at their various positions. Each of them looked at me and awaited my order. Being that I couldn't accurately describe what I wanted to happen, I activated the microphone in my helmet and said,

"Okay there is no reason to engage this army. Activate your stealth generators and meet me in front of the door. I am going to pass us through the door and see what we are dealing with inside."

Each Leader then disappeared, as did I. They were using stealth generators provided by Chaos, I however was a Lord of Creation so going invisible and passing though solid objects was at the bottom end of my abilities.

I made me way to the building, fighting the desire to wipe my hand and vaporize these fools. Climbing the stair I saw the Leaders heat signatures waiting by the door for me. Looking behind, I made sure none of us were noticed, then continued to meet the others.

Getting to them, I held out my arms to let them know to bunch in close. Touching each of them, I passed Creation energy into them. Knowing we needed to save Aurora as soon as possible, I wasted no time, I nodded my head and led them to the door.

The moment we entered the wall, everything went black. When passing through a solid object, everything became the color of the object. So after a few seconds of blackness, we passed out of the wall and into a large, dark room made entirely of stone. In front of us were two spiraling staircases that went down to a lower level. There were no guards which surprised me, so we made our way down the stairs.

Past the stair led us into a great, long hall. There were arching doorways on both side and large, black chandeliers lining both walls. At the end of the hall there was another stairwell that presumably led down even farther. Slade whispered,

"This place reeks of fear and death. We need to find her now."

Thror added,

"How do we know where to go? She could be in any of these chambers."

While they discussed where to look, I pressed my hand to the stone ground. I searched for Aurora's life force and after a few moments, could feel it coming from below us. I felt a pull towards the staircase at the back of the room and knew we must go down farther. I said,

"She is below, follow me."

Running down the hall, the air grew colder and fouler. By the time we got to the stairwell it smelled like a rotting corpse. I felt a spark of anger as we descended the stairs. The enemy had taken somebody I cared deeply for and had exposed her to this filthy place.

Slade seemed to share my thoughts as he said,

"When I find the person responsible for this, they will wish they'd never been born."

At the bottom of the stairs was a massive, stone door. I pressed my hand against the wall and concentrated. I could feel many life forms. I felt a bright but fading pure light that must have been Aurora. I also felt several dull, dark entities. The most potent however was more like a memory, as if it had been there recently but was gone now. It was old, dangerous, and powerful. I gasped when I realized it reminded me of Chaos.

I recoiled from the wall in shock. The Angels looked at me in fear, for whatever had made me back up wasn't something they wanted to meet. Arwin asked,

"What is it Allistar?

I shook my head and answered,

"There is, or was rather, something old in that room. I sense Chaos, or something very similar to him was recently in that room."

They looked at me in terror as Thror asked,

"Who could remind you of Chaos?"

Dread settled in my heart as I said,

"There is only one."

"Order," whispered Atlan.

I nodded as Slade asked,

"What? How could Order be in there? Chaos banished him to the Void and he remains there still."

A decision needed to be made on what to do. I knew for a fact Order was not in that room right now, though traces of him remained. I harnessed a limited version of the power of Chaos and could do battle with him briefly if need be. With this knowledge and without consulting the Angels, I gathered energy into my hand and blasted the wall away.

The chamber was a massive throne room. A chasm expanded below the walkway and a bridge led from the entrance to a large, circular area. At the opposite end of the room was another bridge that led up a stairwell and ended at a large, empty, purple and black throne.

In the center of the circular area was a large group of monsters surrounding a woman lying on the ground. The monsters blocked my view but I knew it was Aurora from her scent. Horrified, I also smelled blood. Visions of her in the alleyway I found her in came to me and with an angry shout I froze every monster surrounding her.

I bounded forward, past the frozen monsters and looked down to a grim sight. Aurora was alive, but fading quickly. She looked literally the exact same as she had when I first found her. Blood was everywhere, her body looked broken and she was barely breathing.

Rage exploded inside of me and I screamed out and released a wave of black energy. At once every monster was instantly vaporized and the black throne was dissolved in the energy. The room shook from the violent wave and purple energy sparked off of me.

Order… the corrupter of the universe had taken Aurora and had tortured her. Words could not describe what merciless horrors he had likely exposed her to. The Angels surrounded Aurora to tend her wounds but I was losing my temper. I wanted to cause death, I wanted inflict pain, I wanted to vaporize every monster in existence and end with destroying Order.

At the last moment before I lost control, Atlan jumped up, took her helmet off and said urgently,

"Percy you need to calm down. She's alive, she's okay. If you don't calm down you could hurt you. Please calm down."

Instantly I regained control. I took my helmet off and looked to Aurora. She was staring at me in fear but when she saw my controlled expression she calmed down. I rubbed my temples and said to her,

"Aurora are you alright?"

She choked up and spit out a mouthful of blood, I winced at the sight. I crouched down next to her and when I did she reached out her arms as if to hug me. My heart ached and I reached down to pick her up. Slade had taken his helmet off and I could see pain in his eyes at this display. I looked at him apologetically and he seemed to understand. I looked back to Aurora, she looked awful. Arwin had healed most of her wounds but it would take time for them to heal completely. I asked her,

"What happened here?"

She choked back a sob and said,

"He was here Percy, the enemy."

"Who," I asked.

She took a deep breath, chocked back another sob and said,

"Order."


	37. Order

-Percy POV-

"Order," said Aurora.

I immediately sighed, I knew Order was most likely to blame for this incident, but hearing it confirmed made it all the more real. Handing Aurora to Luke, I looked up and scanned the room.

There was an enormous black, crystal chandelier that hung over our heads. The ceiling was domed that ended at an oculus at the top which was blacked out. The walls were black stone with arcs of black and purple energy sparking off of them. I gathered some remnant energy into my hand and stared down at a blackish purple orb.

Strange, I thought Order was similar in power to Chaos. The energy signature of Chaos was only purple, no other color was produced when Chaos used his power. Plus if Order really was free, he wouldn't be subtle. A being whose power rivals that of the creator has no need for lurking in the shadows. He would take the fight to us the moment he was able. Something didn't add up.

Calypso seemed to notice my dilemma and asked,

"What is it Percy?"

I frowned, something odd was at work here. Answering her I said,

"What is the first thing you would do if you held the power of Chaos and wanted to dominate all life?"

The Angels thought for a moment before Calypso answered,

"I would gather all of my strength and unleash it against Olympus."

The other Angels had similar answers. I nodded my head and said,

"And since the moment you met him, what color is produced when Chaos uses his power?"

Again Calypso answered,

"Purple, it's always purple. Percy what are you getting at? What's going on?"

I shook my head and looked at Aurora. Most of her wounds had healed but I wanted to check something. So concentrating for a moment, I changed my vision to read energy signatures and scanned her cells. There were traces of black energy, dark strings that were slowly dissipating into nothing. I changed back to normal vision and looked her straight in her bloodshot eyes and asked,

"Aurora I absolutely believe that the power of Order did this. But I need you to tell me what the person who attacked you looked like."

She immediately got a fearful look in her eyes but weakly nodded her head. She thought for a few moments before answering,

"I didn't get a good look at him, he injected me with something that made my vision go hazy. All I remember is that he looked massive, like a giant. It… it looked like he was wearing bones, and his face looked deformed, almost twisting with cold, purple eyes."

Tartarus… Giant, armor made of bones, a chest piece with trapped monsters in it, and a spiraling vacuum for a face. There was no doubt Order was involved, but I was also just as certain that Tartarus was the being that personally tortured Aurora. I looked to the one person I knew who had experience with spirit hosting.

"What are the chances that Order has chosen a host body," I asked Luke.

His eyes immediately darkened, even centuries later, he still bore scars from his experience with the Lord of time. He scrunched his eyebrows, thought for a moment and said,

"Her description lines up with how you described Tartarus, yet she says it was Order. The evidence around us implies his involvement."

He paused for a moment before finishing,

"If I had to pass judgment, I would say it's possible, even likely that Order is using Tartarus as a host body."

The other Angels had various reactions. I didn't really notice, my mind was back at camp, thinking about Annabeth. If this really was Order, she was in terrible danger, in fact we now had bigger problems than earth to worry about. He could wage another universal war. Aurora coughed and asked me,

"Percy, what will happen if he comes back?"

I could feel my eyes blacken momentarily. The Leaders backed up slightly before my eyes went back to normal and I apologized. I took a deep breath and said,

"War, bloodshed, death on an unimaginable level. Chaos used to tell me stories about when Order first declared war on the universe. Trillions of deaths, entire sectors wiped out, and the introduction of widespread evil into the universe. If Order was ever able to escape the Void, Chaos would be the only one with any chance of defeating him. And as it is, he is weakening."

Calypso asked,

"Well if Chaos is weaker then he used to be, wouldn't Order be too?"

I shook my head and replied,

"He has been imprisoned since the dawn of time. Since then Chaos has used vast amounts of his power while Order has remained in the Void. Therefore he has lost none of his former power. I imagine Order would dwarf Chaos in terms of power were he released."

Calypso asked through a shaking voice,

"Then… what do we do?"

The only thing we could do, I replied,

"We talk to Chaos, he will know what must be done."

The Angels nodded, I could tell they wanted to get out of this place so I said,

"Get Aurora to Chaos Cabin and bring Annabeth. I will be there soon."

Luke asked,

"What are you doing sir?"

I looked around the evil place that recently housed the corrupter of the universe. I thought of the thousands of monsters outside the building, then answered,

"After dismantling this cursed camp I am going to summon Chaos. Get going."

They nodded and with a bright light, they were gone.

This building, this camp bore the mark of Order, there was only one thing to be done about such a place. He could not be allowed to return, so it must be destroyed. I made my way back up the stairs to the main hall. I was disgusted once more at the pure malevolence radiating off of the place.

After climbing the next set of stairs, I came to the building entrance. Knowing there would be a massive host of monsters to greet me on the other side, I smiled in anticipation. I was a compassionate person, I loved my friends, and I would help anybody who needed it. On the flip side, I had a deep desire for the elimination of evil, and whenever the chance to destroy agents of darkness arose, I relished the opportunity.

Without wasting time, I raised my hand and with the slightest effort, blew the door into splinters which flew back and impaled the closest monsters. I stepped out and began walking to the open area in front of the building. The door had impaled every monsters within twenty feet so no resistance greeted me until I came to the top of the stairs.

I looked out at the snarling faces of the gathered army. They knew who I was and nobody seemed overly anxious to engage me. One brave cyclops decided to be the first, he drew his club and charged me. He ran up the stairs and when he was three steps before me took a great leap and brought his club down towards my head. The moment before the blow landed, I raised my hand and caught the club, stopping it and causing the cyclops to fall forward. Before he could recover I thrust my hand forward and with a bright light, he was thrown back into an adjacent building, collapsing it on top of him.

After this display they all knew they were doomed. Several tried to gang up on me, others tried to run. I would have none of it and gathering energy into my hands, I slammed them together in a clapping motion. The shock wave that resulted flew out in a dome into the air and upon meeting anything in its path, instantly vaporized it. Monsters, buildings, stone, and anything else dissolved in the wave of power.

Watching the wave disappear, I looked around and surveyed the destruction left in my wake. Every single monster was gone, piles of monster remains were strewn about the area in random spots. The bunker building behind me had been mostly blasted away, only bits of concrete were left in the giant hole that used to be the throne room. Every other building had been reduced to dust. And the tent camp was completely gone, replaced with barren ground much like the rest of the valley.

I jumped up into the air and flew a few hundred feet up. Turning around, I saw the only evidence that there was ever anything here was the pit where the bunker was. This valley must be cleansed. So with a wave of my hand the rest of the evidence of the camp disappeared, the thick storm clouds dissipated, and the valley looked exactly how it had before being occupied by the enemy. Satisfied with my handiwork, I shot up into the clouds to make my way back to camp.

-3rd Person POV-

Back at Chaos Cabin, the Leaders, Annabeth, and Chiron were all in the war room of the Leaders house, discussing preliminary ideas about what needed to be done about the Order problem. Their talks ended when a dark portal appeared against the wall, two figures emerged from the portal. The first was Chaos in his Universal form. He noticed Annabeth and immediately turned into a middle aged man, looking like his little boy form but thirty years older. The next person was Percy, the moment he saw Annabeth they walked quickly to one another and hugged. Percy rubbed her back and uttered soothing words to his worried fiancé.

Chaos sat down in an armchair and began to rub his temples. Percy noticed this, sat down with Annabeth on a couch and asked,

"Chaos, what is going on?"

For a moment Chaos looked like he hadn't heard Percy, he leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling. After a few seconds he responded,

"Order has found a way to once again ruin my creation. I have felt him stirring in the Void for months now, but nothing beyond what he has done in the past. I never imagined something like this was possible."

Percy asked,

"Chaos, could he escape?"

Chaos shook his head and responded,

"No, I know for an undeniable fact that once you are condemned to the Void, the only way out is for you or myself to release them. I know what you're thinking, and while I know that history tends to repeat itself, this is not the same as what happened between Luke and Kronos."

Calypso, Leo, and Beckendorf looked pleased with the answer, the rest of the people present knew better. Percy said,

"That doesn't really make our situation any better. If he is able to manipulate and augment somebody outside the Void, we may be in just as much danger as if he were physically released."

Chaos nodded miserably, he looked old, frail, broken. Endless ages of watching his beloved creation decay was taking its toll. Percy watched with concern as Chaos looked up and said,

"We all know I don't have the strength to repel him. The only thing that could stop him now would be to either make his host body fade, or send it to the Void. He will have invested much in his host and destroying that should weaken him enough to make him fall back into the nothingness of the Void."

"But how do we fight somebody as strong as you," asked Annabeth.

Chaos smiled slightly and responded,

"My dear I imagine Percy could defeat me in this state, please don't overestimate my power."

Percy frowned at that prediction but remained quiet as Chaos continued,

"He will be severely weakened in a host body, the body of a primordial can only handle so much of Order's essence, if he put all his power and being into Tartarus, his body would buckle and fade from being overloaded. We can only hope that this state can be fought and defeated."

A somber minute of silence followed this statement, everybody was either processing this information, or beginning to develop a plan to solve this problem. Percy broke the silence and said,

"I think it's safe to say that we are literally fighting for the future of existence. If Order gets what he wants, we will all be thrown into the Void, or simply faded. He will not be subtle after revealing himself in such an obvious way."

Percy walked to the window, stared out of it for a few moments and said,

"The time for training is over, it's time to take the fight to him."


	38. The Deep Breath Before The Plunge

-Percy POV-

A couple of days after saving Aurora, she still had not made a full recovery. Calypso, some Angel healers, and even Apollo had tried to diagnose her condition, but none of them could figure out what was wrong with her. After the meeting with Chaos, she had her first seizure. Of course seizure was a poor way to describe what Aurora now went through on a daily basis. Chaos had just left to return to Genesis, and I was talking to Annabeth when all of a sudden Aurora fell to the ground. She started shaking violently, foaming at the mouth, and made a loud, shrieking sound, almost as if she was being tortured.

Since then, she would have one similar incident at some point throughout the day, usually lasting between one and five minutes. Calypso had been working several hours a day with Aurora, trying to pinpoint where the problem was, and what exactly it was doing to her body.

"This is infuriating, beyond the fact that somebody I love and care about is hurting, I'm no closer to finding a cure then I was when we first found her," Calypso had said one night.

Everybody worried about Aurora, but Luke was in absolute torment, sometimes I think he is suffering worse than Aurora. He sits by her bed at all times, leaving only to eat and to go to the bathroom. She tells him at least twenty times a day to go do something, maybe try and have some fun, but every time he leaves for a moment, he becomes paranoid and immediately returns to her side.

Aurora, Luke, myself and Annabeth all sat around her bed one night, discussing her condition and planning out the next couple of weeks. Annabeth and Aurora were talking about girl problems, periods, or bowel movements, I didn't really want to know so I turned to Luke and asked,

"Any improvements?"

He shook his head miserably and replied,

"None, if anything the fits are getting worse. They are lasting longer and the warning signs are starting to disappear. One moment she'll be doing something, the next she is on the ground shaking, I have no idea why."

I did. Chaos had told me this might happen, an old curse had been placed on Aurora. I told Luke,

"The stronger Tartarus becomes, the worse Aurora's condition will be."

He looked up in agony and asked,

"What do you mean?"

I replied,

"If I am correct, a curse was placed upon her by Tartarus using the power of Order. Her condition will not improve unless he is defeated. Her life is now tied to the fate of Tartarus. The only way to save her is to destroy him, and once again exile the influence of Order to the Void."

Luke chocked out a sob but contained his grief, he didn't want to alarm Aurora anymore then she already was. Luckily she and Annabeth didn't notice, after Luke was silent for a moment he said,

"Percy we need to find him, and send him back where he belongs before she dies."

That was the second part of the bad news, taking a deep breath I said,

"I haven't even told you the worst part."

Looking down for a moment, I gathered my thought before saying,

"This curse doesn't kill, it does something far worse. I don't know how long, but if she is not released in time, her soul will be sucked into the Void, and her body will become another host of Order."

Luke acted like he hadn't heard me, he stared out the window into the night sky and I couldn't imagine what was going through his head. Maybe something similar to what would be going through my head if Annabeth were in Aurora's position. He was quiet long enough for Annabeth to notice, luckily Aurora had her eyes closed. Annabeth looked at Luke then at me with a confused expression, I shook my head slightly hoping she would get the point that I would tell her later. Of course she did and she quickly nodded her head.

Looking back to Luke I was surprised and worried to see tears rolling down his face, as soon as he knew I saw he stood up and walked to the window. He stopped and put his hands on the rail. A few minutes of silence passed when he finally turned and walked back over to Aurora who was now sleeping soundly. He sat on his chair and closed his eyes like we weren't there.

Annabeth and I got the point at the same time, of course he wanted to be alone with her. So standing up at the same time, we made our way back to my chambers.

-Annabeth POV-

Percy and Luke had been talking normally for a few minutes, but for some reason Luke was just staring out the window and had been for a while. He looked vacant, almost dead so I looked to Percy to ask what was wrong. His expression made me stop, he had a face of pain and worry, and he shook his head slightly, clearly not wanting to talk about it right now.

I nodded my head to let him know I understood. He looked back to Luke and when he did Luke stood up and walked over to the window. He stood there for a few minutes during which I rubbed Aurora's head, who had fallen asleep. She seemed so peaceful, so happy while sleeping, all the pain and torment of her life was vacant from her face as she slept.

After a few moments Luke walked back from the window and sat down in the chair opposite me, he put his hand on Aurora's and leaned his head back to close his eyes. I didn't have to be the daughter of the Wisdom goddess to know he wanted some time alone with her. Even seaweed brain picked it up as we stood at the same time and walked to his room.

I sat down on a couch and watched him as he paced silently through the room. He had a face of deep concentration so I didn't want to disturb him. After a few minutes though the anticipation was killing me so I asked,

"What are you thinking about?"

He stopped and looked at me, smiling and came to sit by me. I moved aside for him and when he was situated against the armrest I leaned over and rested my head on his chest. I listened to the strong beat of his heart and his breath coming in and out. After ten breaths he said,

"I am the Commander of the Army, and yet I let one of its Leaders be tortured and cursed. I knew letting her go was a bad idea, I should have gone myself."

I stopped him by leaning forward, looking him directly in his sea green eyes and said,

"Percy not another word, stop beating yourself up. Aurora knew the risks and she went anyway. If you had not let her go she would have resented you for it and you know it."

I did my best to give him my steely look, he needed to stop taking the blame for everything. I shouldn't be surprised that all these years he's been gone hasn't changed that about him. Apparently something that did change is the fact that he no longer backs away when I give him my serious look, he just frowned and looked down. Alright plan B it is.

I backed away and stood up, he watched me as I closed my eyes and concentrated. I imagined all the pain, regret, sleepless nights, and terrible dreams I had experienced in his absence and imagined a sphere containing all of it. I opened my eyes and saw in my hands a dark gray, cloudy orb with black spots and streaks on it. The orb seemed to be made a smoke as it rotated and every couple seconds, a small flicker of lightning streaked across its tiny diameter.

To say that it weighed me down would be a literal statement, it was massively heavy. I struggled to lift it and could feel sadness and pain literally radiating off of it. I began to feel old pain, old wounds still not completely healed began to ache again and for a moment the orb was my reality.

I looked up however and saw him. My Percy, sitting in front of me. The pain disappeared and instantly the orb began to change. As Percy walked over to me with a slight smile on his face, the orb transformed into a shining, golden orb. It gave off a warm, soothing light and the weight disappeared, it was as light as a feather.

Percy got to me and put his hand on my face as I said,

"That was me, dark, gloomy, dead. But this…"

I gestured down to the shining ball of light and said,

"This is me now, now you see the world you brought to life. If you can take broken people, broken spirits, and made them beautiful, you can save us from any evil."

I finished by tossing the orb into the air. It went up a few feet then expanded out across the entire room, momentarily filling it with light. After the light died, Percy looked back at me smiling and said,

"That was beautiful Annabeth, thank you for restoring hope in me. I have a gift for you."

I cocked my head to the side grinning and asked,

"Oh really? What might that be?"

He laughed gently and in response held out his hand. I looked down and saw something that absolutely took my breath away. Technically it was a knife, but simply calling this weapon a knife would be an insult to its beauty.

The grip was silver and rounded, with a small, spherical pommel at the end. The cross guard was flat across the blade side and slightly rounded on the grip side. As far as the blade, it seemed to made out of pure starlight. Shining silver metal that shone brightly even though there was little light in the room. It was double bladed that came to a wickedly sharp point with a small ridge running down the center of each side. It was without a doubt the most beautiful weapon I had ever seen.

I gasped as he handed the knife to me. The moment I touched the grip I felt a small shock run through my fingers. After recovering from it, I griped it tightly in my hand. I could feel the knife humming with power, I had never seen or felt a weapon like this so I asked,

"What is it?"

He smiled widely and replied,

"It's made from stellar silver, a metal found only in the mines of the industrial sector of Genesis. It is unbreakable, will never need to be sharpened, and can cut though any solid material not also made from stellar silver."

It was perfectly balanced yet seemed to weigh less than I would think possible for being forged from silver. I looked up at him and said,

"It's beautiful Percy, thank you."

He nodded his head still smiling. His expression then changed to a more serious one, he frowned and said,

"I'm sorry to say that this will probably be put to good use in the near future. Chaos and I were organizing the first attack the other day."

The first attack… it seems the storm was upon us. We would soon be going to war with somebody who held the power of Order, and more monsters than any of us had ever seen. People were going to die, maybe friends. I looked up to Percy and asked,

"How bad is it going to be?"

He grimaced, and thought for a moment before saying,

"On their end, countless monsters will die, his leadership be die, and if we are victorious, so will he. On our end…"

He stopped for a moment and his eyes darkened to a pitch black color, no irises, no white, just completely black. This time I did not back up in fear, even though it took every ounce of willpower I had not to. I gazed into them and could almost feel them tugging at my soul, as if my spirit were being sucked into them. It was a terrible feeling and after only a few seconds I looked away and gasped out in pain.

I felt better at once, and noticed his eyes change back to normal as he now wore an apologetic expression. He groaned in frustration with himself and said,

"Please forgive me, I forget how sensitive people are to my eyes when I do that."

I rubbed my temples to ease the headache the experience had given me and said,

"I felt like my soul was being ripped out, what was that?"

He replied,

"Like I said earlier, when I am in distress or upset, my eyes turn black. But sometimes it's more than that. When I am angry and am not being careful, my eyes become portals to the Void."

What an awful thing to have to endure, every time you get angry you run the chance of sucking people around you into the worst imaginable place. I put my hand on his face and said,

"Oh Percy… I'm sorry."

He shrugged and said,

"It's only one bad thing to endure, as long as I control myself it isn't a problem. Anyway, our side will most likely face severe losses, campers, Angels, spirits, gods, of course that's assuming we can even defeat Tartarus."

I looked down at the knife he had just given me and imagined it cutting through monsters, demons, and evil spirits, all determined to kill myself and the ones I loved. If they wanted a fight, if they wanted death, they would get it.

Percy seemed to share my outlook as he stood up, clenched his fist and said,

"Tartarus loves death, he loves pain, and he get both. Now that Order has manipulated a physical body, the Laws allow direct involvement. We will wipe him from existence, and erase any and all influence of Order from the universe."


	39. Pre-Battle Relaxation

-Percy POV-

I woke up early the next morning, after trying and failing to fall back asleep I rolled out of bed and making my way to the balcony, I looked out over Chaos cabin. Being just after 5:30, Lux was still shinning dimly but I knew it wouldn't be long before Elpis showed up and the day would begin. Making my way to Annabeth's room, I poked my head inside to see her cuddled under the blankets sleeping soundly. Smiling, I continued down the hall. On my way outside, I passed the infirmary and saw Aurora lying in bed with Luke in an arm chair snoring by her side. It was a bittersweet sight, sleeping she looked like nothing was wrong, but I knew the moment she woke up reality would return and she would once again be subjected to the torture of our enemy. I made my way out the door and walked down to the pavilion in Chaos Park.

Cracking my knuckles to dissipate some excess energy. I chuckled slightly as I watched the small bolt of purple lightning that had sparked off my hand arc into the sky and disappear in the clouds. I stared up into the pre-morning sky and could still see stars. Many of them I had visited and had spent time with the inhabitants. I recognized Orculus, and immediately remembered a few of my Angels who were born there. Next I saw Rolund, a planet I had shielded from a hypernova a few centuries ago.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by the sound of somebody addressing me,

"Good morning sir."

I looked over to one end of the park and saw an Angel approaching me, his name was Arthur. I replied,

"How are you, Arthur? And when not in uniform please call me Percy."

He looked taken aback for a moment, never before had I let one of the Angels address me by my real name, other than the Leaders of course. In uniform I was the Commander, out of uniform I was Allistar. Maybe it was time to ditch the name that had helped me forget my past, maybe it was time to be just Percy again. He collected himself and answered,

"Nervous… Percy. I haven't been sleeping well lately. My people have the ability to predict the near future, and I see death and bloodshed in ours."

A memory of green planet in sector 7 came to me, Olaris I believe it's called. I asked,

"I had only been with Chaos for a few years when I found you on Olaris, I had forgotten about your ability see the future."

He nodded and said,

"I remember when you saved my family. A crime lord lusted after my mother but her heart of course belonged to my father. I remember him holding a knife to my throat and knowing I was about to die, but then his hand disappeared. I kept my eyes closed, worried it was a trick but when I opened them, there you were smiling down at me."

-Flashback-

Olaris huh? Nice enough planet, the food is good, the weather is comfortable. The only bad thing is it reminds me of Camp Half Blood. Large open fields with crops, lakes everywhere, and a bright sun shining down on me.

Chaos asked me to take a week off and enjoy myself. I've been working nonstop lately, trying to finalize the transfer of power on a planet in sector 1. The royal family is proving far more resilient to change then Chaos originally anticipated, and a more hands on approach was called for. Anyway here I am on an Earth-looking planet called Olaris, trying to distract myself from work, and hopefully not think about… her.

I'm enjoying something similar to a hot dog at a café when I sense a soul in terror. Jumping up I make my way to the source faster than the aliens around me can keep up with. After a few miles I find myself in a large ghetto. Garbage litters the road, the buildings are dilapidated, and it reeks of drugs. The source is coming from a boarded up building a couple hundred feet from me so I run to it and look through the wall to see a man holding a knife against a small boy's throat. Behind him are two adults and a young girl tied up to a furnace. Anger boils inside of me and with a snap of my fingers, I send the man to Tartarus.

Before the family knows what just happened I pass through the wall and smile down at the boy whose eyes are still tightly shut. After a moment he seems to realize the man is gone and opens his eyes to look up at me.

I ask,

"What's your name?"

He seems hesitant to answer, probably thinking I am another threat. But after crouching down and kneeling next to him, he seems more comfortable. He answers,

"Arthur, my name is Arthur."

-End Flashback-

"I was just another person you selflessly saved, yet to me you were, and still are my hero. I sense strife in the future, but I trust you to see us through," Arthur says.

I closed the distance between us and put my hand on his shoulder. He smiles wider and I say,

"I would give my life for any of you, I promise we will survive this."

He nods his head and turns around to go back to what he was doing. In all the time I have spent as the leader of this army, nothing has given me more joy than seeing the faces of the people I've saved. Watching them grow, seeing what they become, and it's all possible because Chaos cared enough to give me the power to do all of it.

-Annabeth POV-

The sound of people shouting wakes me up. Confused, I sit up and try to get my bearings, I'm in bed but I hear people somewhere else in the house arguing. I quickly get dressed and make my way down the hall and realize the sound if coming from the infirmary, it must be Luke and Aurora. As I get closer I recognize their voices and immediately wonder why their arguing.

Not wanting to pry, I rush back to my room before they realize I heard anything. When I get there I see Percy sitting on my bed looking at me. He's smiles and says,

"Good morning Annabeth."

I reply,

"Hey Seaweed brain."

A thought comes to mind, and before I know it I am bounding towards him, before he can react I jump into the air and crash into him. We roll across the bed and stop with me on top, sticking my tongue out at him. He says,

"That was rude, where did that come from?"

I laugh and reply,

"I don't know, just felt like tackling you."

He got a suspicious smile and said.

"Well then I just feel like doing this…"

With that his eyes glowed a bright green color and before I knew it we were both flying through the air. I found my arms wrapped around his neck and this time flying with him, I didn't close my eyes. We soared out of Chaos cabin, and shot up in the morning sky.

The sun had just come up so the sky was a painting of beautiful colors. We shot above the clouds and Percy came to a stop just floating in the air. Below me was an enormous cloud probably the size of a small city, below that I could barely make out water, we must be over the Atlantic Ocean. Percy interrupted my thoughts by asking,

"If you were given the chance, would you like to be able to do this?"

Confused I asked,

"What, fly?"

He nodded his head.

For the second time in my life I was being given the chance to experience a part of nature I thought I would never be able to. During my mortal life before Percy, being a daughter of Athena pretty much ensured I would never be able to enjoy the ocean, at least that's what I thought. I had always thought Poseidon would make me drown or have a shark eat me for encroaching on his territory due to his feud with my mother. When Percy and I became involved though, I realized Poseidon had no such feud with Athena's children, and I was able to enjoy the ocean. I had always thought it ironic that the very thing I feared for so long would become my main source of comfort after Percy was taken from me.

Now being given the chance to fly, I found myself just as excited to experience this aspect of nature. I asked Percy,

"How?"

He responded in a way that made me want to punch him, he literally threw me up higher into the air.

The first time he did something like this caused me to panic and he had to have a wave of water catch me, this time I was determined to keep it together and think clearly. I processed my situation quickly and realized if he did this, that means he already gave me the ability to fly and I just needed to figure it out while falling.

Reaching the maximum altitude from his throw, I fell backwards and turned to face the clouds that were quickly coming towards me. After two seconds I reached him at which point he proceeded to fall alongside me, most likely to either mock or help me during my fall. He yelled out to me,

"I'm impressed you're not panicking, quite an improvement from last time."

"Shut up Seaweed brain," I shouted back.

I needed to focus, whenever he flew it looked like he crouched down and kicked off before taking off, seeing as how I was already thousands of feet off the ground, clearly that would do me no good, it must be something less physical.

I passed through the clouds and was surprised at how think and moist they were, that thought quickly left me when I saw that water was the next thing I would hit. Now I knew I wouldn't die, but falling from Chaos know how far probably wouldn't feel good.

Thankfully Percy gave me a hint when he realized that I wasn't making any progress, he yelled to me,

"You're trying too hard, just imagine yourself flying and you'll do it. It's as natural as walking or swimming."

I figured I had ten seconds before I created a tidal wave upon impact so I put all my concentration into doing what he said. Instead of trying to physically figure out what to do, I imagined myself soaring above the clouds, freefalling for miles before shooting back up.

About twenty feet above the water surface, I finally did it. I threw my legs forward and slowed to a near stop before laughing loudly and imagined being fired out of a cannon. At once I shot up into the air faster than the speed of sound. I heard the boom far behind me and saw the air cloud up around me.

Within two seconds I flew through the cloud I had fallen through and came to a stop close to where Percy had thrown me. Hearing another boom, I looked up to see him soaring perhaps twice as high as I. I imagined myself flying higher and the next second I found myself floating just feet away from him. He had a huge grin on his face so I said,

"Pleased with yourself? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

He shook his head and replied,

"I had complete faith in you, I strengthened your body so the impact wouldn't have hurt anyway. I must say I'm impressed, it took the Angelic Leaders nearly an hour to be able to do what you just did. And you did it on your first drop."

"And you," I asked.

He shrugged and answered,

"I taught myself in about five seconds, it seems I was born to fly, despite the fact that I am a son of the sea."

He then looked out at the sun and frowned saying,

"I hate to do it, but we are needed at camp. We are making out final preparations before moving out tomorrow."

Right, in all this excitement I had almost forgotten the imminent war basically on our doorstep. So I said,

"Alright, race you back…"


	40. Phase 1

-The Next Day-

-Percy POV-

Camp half-blood had been turned into a fortress. The gods had augmented the magical barrier with their powers. Poseidon had called his forces from their various positions to Long Island Sound to patrol the waters for any invaders. Hephaestus had built massive defense walls surrounding the camp, and everybody was on high alert, waiting and ready for the battle to come.

As if on cue, reports had just started pouring in of natural disasters happening around the world, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and other events were occurring in impossibly fast and violent fashions. I knew this was nothing but Order warming up though, he hadn't gone through all this trouble just to cause strife on Earth. It was just a matter of time before he moved his sphere of destruction outside the borders of this world, and he must be stopped before that happened.

At the center of camp was a make-shift command center, an Olympian sized table large enough for fifty people had monitors with various shots of what was happening. Chiron was designating assignments to campers while the Angelic Leaders gave out scouting routes to Angels. As for myself and Annabeth, we were discussing battle tactics with the gods.

It seems there was a rift in the Olympians about how to proceed, half of them wanted to attack now, the other half wanted to give it more time in order to gain Intel from the Angel/campers scouts. Apollo, Demeter, Dionysus, Hermes, Hephaestus, and surprisingly Ares were all hesitant to move on the enemy. Poseidon, Athena, Hera, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Artemis however were chomping at the bit to get underway. As for myself, I sided with the latter of the two.

After listening to Demeter talk about how foolish it would be to expose ourselves already, I stood up to counter. The assembled gods quieted down as I said,

"Order has blatantly revealed himself which means he is ready for bloodshed. Chaos said the more time passes, the stronger Order becomes. I believe we are ready now as we'll ever be, and to give Order even one more day of preparation would be to further strengthen his chances of victory. This is your war, we are only here to aid you, you must decide but this is my council. That we strike hard and fast, and do it today."

The gods already wanting to move nodded their heads in agreement while a few of the more hesitant gods were starting to see my logic. Demeter, who seems the most reluctant, said,

"But we don't even know where Order's stronghold is. Percy, you said its location was hidden to you. How will we attack when we have no idea where to attack?"

Before I could answer a small voice came from behind me,

"Actually, we do know where it is."

The assembled beings turned to look behind me, as did I. There leaning against Luke for support, looking like she was ready to faint with exhaustion, was Aurora. Out of bed for the first time in weeks. I immediately said with a concerned face,

"Aurora what are you doing out of the infirmary?"

Luke gave me a look that said, "Trust me, I don't like it either." Aurora though had a look of defiance, as if her pride had been deeply wounded. She replied,

"I am sick, I'm not dead. And as a Leader of the Angels I have the right to be here and to give my council."

Annabeth said,

"Aurora we respect your bravery and your endurance, we only wish to see you healed. And you can't heal if you're up moving around."

Aurora made a sour face and answered,

"Everybody here knows I can't be healed unless the monster that did this to me is destroyed. Now are you going to my intelligent and listen to what I have to say, or continue to ignore me and treat me like an invalid?"

I sighed in defeat, she was so stubborn. So admitting that she would never rest until she said her peace I said,

"Alright Aurora, you have every right to be here, as you say. Please say what you came to tell us."

She raised her chin slightly, obviously pleased that she had gotten her way. After a slight smile she took a deep breath and said,

"The garden goddess…"

Demeter immediately interjected,

"Garden goddess? Is this what I have been reduced to?"

I shook my head and replied,

"Demeter enough, she doesn't know each individual title of each Olympian. Be quiet and let her finish."

Demeter huffed indignantly, but stayed quiet as Aurora continued,

"Anyway, Demeter says we don't know where Order is, that's not true. When he took me, I overhead him talking about where they would go if that base was destroyed."

I asked,

"And where was that Aurora?"

Before she could answer, a camper came running up from the hill, he looks terrified and was struggling to breath. I immediately asked,

"What is it camper?"

He took a few moments to breath before answering,

"Its Order sir, his army is almost here. I was scouting around New York and saw a massive host marching towards camp. Thousands of monsters, spirits, and other things I didn't recognize."

At once everybody present was on high alert, the gods grasped their weapons, the camp defenses were activated, and everyone looked to me for instructions.

I said quickly,

"If Order thinks he can challenge camp with the Angels here, he must have bolstered his forces with old entities. Angels, attention!"

At once my Angels were in formation in the field next to us, Aurora was taken back to Chaos cabin by Luke then he would return. A handful of Angels were missing due to them being on assignments. I looked to Zeus and said,

"I want the gods spaced out around the camp, three minor gods with one Olympian, fifty Angels and twenty campers. Zeus, you and Poseidon take the main entrance, designate each other Olympian an area to defend around camp."

Zeus immediately began assigning areas of camp to each Olympian, who would then take their minor gods and campers. The Angels awaited my orders on who would accompany them. I turned to them and said,

"Angel 1-100 of each squad, disperse to aid the Olympians, choose who to stand with."

After they left, that left the remaining Angels, campers, and gods to spread out inside the camp and to man the defense weapons. Luke arrived and I said,

"Remaining Angels, campers, and gods, you know your duty. Prepare for a vicious fight, Order will have no doubt gathered forces enough to challenge us. Leaders, attend me."

With everybody except Annabeth, myself, and the Leaders given orders, they gathered around to hear what we would be doing. Annabeth asked,

"What will we be doing?"

I replied,

"You six will be patrolling camp, watching for any areas that need reinforcements. You have Angels, gods, and campers ready to deploy, should any flank falter, assign solders to aid in their defense. Leaders, anything the Olympians can't handle are your responsibility. Titans, Giants, anything beyond their ability."

The Leaders answered,

"Yes Commander."

After they had gone off to prepare, Annabeth looking at me and asked,

"Percy what about you?"

I wasn't excited about this part. So taking a deep breath I answered,

"I will be looking for Tartarus."

Her reaction was actually better than I thought it would be, she only argued and punched me for ten seconds. Of course after controlling her anger she was more logical. She said,

"Percy you promised me we would never be separated. You're asking me to let you take the most dangerous part of this whole operation, and stay here not knowing if you're safe?

Well when you put it that way…

I said,

"Well, I hadn't really thought of it that way, but yeah. I was kind of going more for the whole "protective fiancé that gives you the safer job while I take the hard part" thing."

She wasn't impressed, her eyes were an uncompromising steely gray and I knew nothing short of physically restraining her would keep her from my side. But this wasn't like the old days, I wasn't hunting some minor god or Titan. This was Order, and to be honest, in a worse case scenario, Order could use her against me if she were to come. I said,

"Annabeth think about it, if you come I will have to protect you. What would happen if Order got a hold of you? You know my flaw, I would destroy the world if it meant you were kept safe. Order cannot be given that kind of bargaining chip and you know it."

That seemed to register with her, her confident posture didn't change, but understanding shone in her eyes. For the first time ever, I had outsmarted Annabeth. I could see the gears in her head turning, trying to think of something that could counter that. But after a few moments, she finally breathed out and said,

"I will stay on one condition."

At this point she closed the distance between us, took my face in her hands, leaned forward to where I could feel her breath, and said,

"I have lived an eternity of torment because you were ripped away from me. Since you came back I have felt more alive than ever. Percy, please, please be careful. Nothing stupid, be careful, and you come back to me."

I smiled and after a brief kiss said,

"I love you."

She smiled slightly and responded,

"I love you too."

After one more kiss she backs up, and with a gust of wind I fly off to pursue the enemy.

-Annabeth POV-

Stupid Seaweed brain… Outsmarting me. He's off doing something far more dangerous than any of us and I am here, too far to help and with no idea of his security. Part of me knows I shouldn't worry too much, he's Commander of the Angels for Chaos sake. But the bigger part of me worries that he won't come back… I know for a fact I could never handle it if he didn't come back.

As much as I wanted to speculate about his safety, he gave me a job to do and it was time to see to that. Leaving the spot where he flew off, I turned to prepare for whatever Order could throw at us.

The Olympians were set up just as Percy said, a circle surrounding the main camp spaced out as evenly as possible. The weaker ones were set up closer to the woods and lake, we figured Poseidon's water defenses would limit any serious attack from that side of camp.

As for the main entrance and the surrounding area, Poseidon, Zeus, Ares, Athena, and Artemis guarded the area's most likely to come under siege. The main Angelic force were spread around the camp with various squad members in strategic locations. The Leaders had all taken defensive positions depending on where they were needed. On top of that we had a bolstered magical barrier, massive defense walls, Hephaestus-approved artillery weapons, and enough Greek fire to burn New York to the ground.

All in all, it seemed impossible that any force could penetrate the camp. We had the Olympian gods, the most powerful army in history, and five Angelic Leaders all equivalent in power to a titan. Then again this was Order we were facing, a being who held the power of Chaos.

A loud, evil horn cut through the air, and we knew the time had come.


	41. So it Begins

Please leave reviews and write me PM's if you guys don't mind. I love hearing from everybody on what they think and how it can be improved.

\- 3rd Person POV-

A loud war horn cut through the air and at once the battle began. Just as Percy had predicted, Tartarus's forces had come in from every side. The host of Olympus readied their weapons as enemies approached, out for blood.

The first wave came in from the main entrance, as soon as the monsters approached the magical barrier it glowed brightly and stopped them in their tracks. For a few moments, all the host of Olympus saw was hordes of monsters, spirits, and other beings not as recognizable. They pounded against the barrier and when seeing that the barrier held, the Olympians made their strike.

Zeus let loose a torrent of lightning that fried the entire front row of monsters, when the second row surged forward Poseidon cried out and that row of monsters exploded. Poseidon had been working with Percy trying to perfect this ability, and at long last he could finally control the water inside living bodies. Making the water boil inside the monsters, things were looking pretty good for Olympus.

Naturally though something had to go wrong, as the gods unleashed their powers on the essentially immobilized enemy, a bright beam of energy came shooting from the sky, it made contact with the barrier and at once it dissipated.

The monsters, who until this point had been crushed up against the barrier, now fell forward, aware they now had access to their foes. For a few moments it was dead silence, everybody waiting for the other to attack. The tension was broken however when Ares crossed his dual swords, spat into the ground, and shouted,

"Come on then!"

As if a bomb went off, the two armies exploded into a run towards each other. Several gods took to the air to attack from on high, campers fired their artillery defenses, and Angels advanced to engage the army. The Angels reached the monsters first and at once began hacking, slashing, and generally massacring everything in sight.

On the opposite side of the camp, a smaller battalion was attacking the rear defenses. Apollo, newly advanced in his powers, let loose a large shining beam that he aimed at every monster that came into sight, vaporizing them on contact. Hermes slashed with his caduceus while Martha and George slithered around biting random monsters here and there. Angels hammered and shot arrows, casualties were light, and for the time being the battle seemed to be going very well.

After Zeus lit up a battalion of cyclops with his bolt, another horn rang deep in the air. This one was colder, and more somber. A volley of beams of energy similar to the one that dissipated the barrier shot through the sky and rained down on the camp. One hit Dionysus who had been grappling with a hyperborean giant. The giant immediately disappeared into smoke while Dionysus was blasted backwards into a rock formation. One hit a group of campers who had been manning a catapult and they too disappeared instantly. Another hit an Angel who had just cut down a hellhound, the beam seemed to vaporize the Angel's armor first, then after a moment the Angel was gone.

Several other beams hit other campers/Angels, even a few minor gods had been vaporized by the energy beams. After a few moments though, the beams stopped, and the battle continued.

Around the camp, the hordes of monsters slowed down. The campers and Angels remained at their post, but the gods had made their way to the entrance of camp, where a new enemy was slowly marching towards the Olympians.

They looked like over-sized, blue, trolls. Twelve massive beasts over twenty feet tall with bodies that shook the earth with every step. They had silver manacles around their wrists and dark blue energy crackled around their hands. They acted like robots, slowly marching over the dead bodies of their fallen comrades. With each step they crushed a handful of monsters underfoot.

The twelve trolls reached the borders of camp when Zeus called down a massive bolt of lightning. It stuck the area where the trolls were and instantly a bright light and loud boom occurred. When the light died down, a small crater had formed where the bolt had hit, but unbelievably, each troll was still intact and marching towards the Olympians.

Luke, who had been keeping a few air spirits busy, saw this event and knew these were what Percy would want them to take on. He finished off one last spirit by impaling it thought the gut and shouted,

"Angelic Leaders, that's our cue."

The Leaders finished what they were doing and appeared in front of the Olympians. Luke assessed the situation and said,

"One Olympian per beast, I will take the largest one. Leaders take the remaining. Angels focus your attack on the beasts, the remaining monsters can be dealt with by the Angels already engaging them."

No sooner than the words left his mouth did the trolls lose patience and unleashed more energy beams from their hands. This time aimed right at their enemies. Everybody tried to dodge the blasts, most were able to, others weren't so lucky. Annabeth dodged a beam by a hair, but after passing Annabeth it vaporized a group of campers behind her. Other casualties was an Angel who had pushed another Angel out of the way, a daughter of Ares, a few nature spirits, and one of Hermes' snakes Martha, who had turned away from a monster she had killed but didn't have time to move. A beam grazed Calypso but she had been moved by Beckendorf out of the way of the fray.

It dawned on everybody that one touch from the beams meant instant death for anybody not an Olympian or Angelic Leader.

At this point Luke yelled,

"Attack!"

Zeus, Luke, and a few minor gods ran towards the largest one. Upon reaching it, Luke sent a beam of energy towards the beasts head. It connected and the beast skidded back a few feet. When the beast removed its hand, his head looked deformed, confident he could take it on himself, he passed some energy into his sword and went to behead it. Before his blade could connect however, it dodged under the strike and followed by pounding Luke out of the air, into the dirt.

The beast raised a massive foot to stomp on Luke, but right before it landed Luke rolled out of the way. Zeus took this opportunity to send a bolt straight at the beast's chest. Much like Luke's blast, it threw it back a few feet, but did little more than anger it.

Knowing the beast feared his blade, he needed a way to distract it long enough to get a good strike at his neck, and perhaps he could behead the thing and help the others. Luke called to Zeus,

"Zeus, give me an opening."

Zeus nodded and jumped at the beast, at the same time some minor gods were sending smaller blasts of energy at the beast's legs. Zeus collided with it and they tumbled to the ground. After some rolling, the beast wound up on top of Zeus. Struggling to get free, Zeus tried to blast the beast but had no luck.

A massive punch to Zeus's face dazed him, and the beast gathered energy into his hand, raised his fist and prepared to finish Zeus off. Before it could however, a metallic cutting sound pierced the air. The beast acted like nothing had happened, but after a moment, its head slid off its neck and slammed into the ground.

Luke landed on the ground from the jump that had severed the beasts head. And after pulling Zeus from under the headless beasts body, said to him,

"You alright?"

He clearly wasn't alright, he seems dazed and confused but he knew the others needed his help. So gathering up his strength, he ran off to aid in the deaths of the other beasts.

Ten minutes later only one beast remained. Unfortunately several campers and minor gods had perished or faded in the attempt, but the battle was almost over. As the final beast was cornered against a rock formation, the Olympian host closed in for the kill. Knowing it was doomed, it pounded the ground and yelled a defining roar into the air. Out of nowhere the beast went silent, its face turned into a face of pure terror as a black portal opened behind it. A strong wind came from the portal and the beast was immediately pulled towards it.

Swept off its feet, it attempted to hang on to the ground by grabbing large amounts of dirt. After a few seconds of struggling though, a black bolt of lightning shot from the sky and stuck the beast straight in the back of the head. Its head instantly exploded, and the headless body was pulled into the portal. After it disappeared, so did the portal, replaced by a grim faced Percy.

-Later that night-

-Annabeth POV-

The camp had been cleaned up, the dead enemies disposed of, and our dead had been collected. Percy surveyed the battlefield as I walked behind him. I had tried to console him, but he seemed beyond grief right now. He had almost lost control when he heard of the Angels deaths. I had to beg him to calm down after Luke tried and failed. Percy would have destroyed us all had I not interceded. His anger in check, he now experienced nothing but sorrow.

At one point we came to a dead Angel who had been crushed under one of the troll's feet. His body was broken and his helmet was lying next to him. Percy had stopped by it and stared for a few seconds before saying,

"His name was Arthur, I spoke to him just yesterday morning."

He then crouched down and put his hand on Arthur's pale face. His blue eyes were open so Percy gently closed them. A tear ran down Percy's face and landed on Arthur's breastplate. Percy shakily said,

"I told him… I would keep him safe…"

He choked back a sob before continuing,

"He had the gift of foresight, he… he said he saw death in his future. And I left him, I promised to protect him and now he's gone."

I looked at Percy with anguish, tears were now falling down my face as well as I crouched down also. I wrapped my arms around Percy and for a moment we just stayed there with the body of a brave Angel who had given his life to protect others from evil.

Percy took a deep breath and stood up, I moved my arms and waited for what he would do. His hands glowed a light blue and Arthur was dissolved before our eyes. From his body though came a dim light, Percy took it in his hands and said,

"Be free, live forever in the stars."

And just as Artemis has done all those years ago, Percy released it into the sky.

-Line Break-

An hour later, we were all gathered in the Coliseum in Chaos Park. The damage had been repaired, the dead buried, and Percy was pacing around the stage while the rest of us waited for what he would say. I looked around at the assembled people, it looked like a physiological blow had been delivered to everybody.

In terms of logistics, the battle was a resounding victory. According to Luke's calculations, we had lost 56 campers, 13 minor gods, 24 nature spirits, 1 out-of-commission Olympian (Dionysus) and 9 Angels. Compared to the estimated 100,000 monsters, 12 energy trolls, and countless spirits destroyed, we crushed them. But when we looked to our dead, the truth weighed heavy on us all, worst of all on Percy.

These were people we had gotten used to, we had trained with them, lived with them. Many of the Angels had taken a few campers under their wing to personally train them and mentor them. Everybody here lost somebody they knew. Of course not everybody lost somebody close, but as I look around I see people who have lost friends, mentors, students. What made it worse is the fact that most of us were immortal, or at least had longer life spans. We aren't used to people dying, and now that death is once again a reality, it's a hard lesson to learn.

After ten minutes of pacing and speaking to the Angelic Leaders, Percy stops pacing and addresses the crowd,

"Angels, gods, friends, loved ones, I have failed you."

Shouts of protest ring out from people everywhere, I expected it though so I am not surprised. One of Percy's worst flaws is coming out, his ability to absorb all blame, and place it on himself. He waits for the loudest protestors to quiet down, when they do he continues,

"Try and deny it all you want, but I take full responsibility for what happened today. I shouldn't have left, I thought with Tartarus attacking camp that he would be exposed, but I was wrong. I found nothing, not a trace. When I felt Angels dying I tried to get back as quick as I could, but Tartarus had blocked my return. I was delayed by old forces I had forgotten about."

Confusion ran through the crowd, people wanted to know what Percy had been through. He knew this so he told us,

"The beasts you fought were called Aldones. They are old creations of Order that faded into obscurity when he was bound to the Void. They harness the power of Order, that's what the beams of energy were. The destructive power he had is evident by the absence of essence his energy leaves behind. His return has obviously awakened them, and only the combined power of several gods, or greater beings such as myself or the Leaders can defeat them."

He stopped to take a deep breath,

"I was delayed by other creatures of Order called Lycrons. They are spirits of creation, as old as Order and almost as evil. He controls them and sent them to engage me. I defeated them, but by the time I did so I realized so much death had already taken place."

Alexandra, one of the Angelic trainers asked,

"Permission to speak sir?"

Percy looked at her apprehensively, probably preparing himself for the verbal scolding the most verbally active Angel was about to give him. He replied,

"Granted Alexandra, I deserve what comes next."

She scowled before answering,

"You're right, you do, however I think we differ in what you actually deserve."

She jumped down from her seat, and made her way up the stage to Percy. Half expecting her to attack him or something ridiculous, I gathered energy into my hands, ready to attack her if she tried anything. The thought was shared by many as some readied their weapons, others readied energy, but what she did surprised us all.

She bounded up to him and to the surprise of us all embraced him in a hug. He seemed just as surprised as the rest of us because he stood there without reaction for a moment. After a brief hug she backed up and said,

"Sir with all due respect, stop right now. Each of us knows the danger to what we are doing. And regardless of what you might think, you are not to blame. We love you and would follow you to whatever end, we know you'll get us through this."

With that she hopped off the stage and made her way back to her seat. People were clapping and singing agreement with her as Percy looked a little better now that he knew he wasn't hated. He smiled at me, mouthed a quick "I love you" to me, and finished with,

"Thank you, all of you. You honor me by your love and commitment. The rest of the week will be designated to physical and mental recovery, assuming Tartarus doesn't attack. I highly doubt he will, this loss will have hopefully weakened him. Rest, recover, and know you are loved, thank you."


	42. Healing

-Percy POV-

Watching everybody leave, I can honestly say I feel even guiltier about what happened today. I had made a fatal error in judgement, and lives had been lost because of it. I looked at the faces of the people I had learned to love again, I felt an overwhelming desire to see them safe, protected.

Thinking about keeping them safe turned my thoughts back to Arthur, my friend… Just yesterday I stared into his eyes and told him that we would survive this, and now he's gone.

I need some time to myself, some time to mourn, and time to heal. Of course my somber thoughts reflected my appearance, I probably looked as lousy as I felt. Annabeth had made her way to me. She knew I was hurting as she gently asked,

"Are you alright?"

Not really, I've seen more death in my time than I wish to remember, but today was different. I wasn't watching a criminal be executed for his crimes, or a murderer be dealt due justice. I saw friends, students, people I had promised safety to disappear forever. It felt so mortal, so unlike anything I have gotten used to since being with Chaos. I shrugged and answered her,

"I will be, but I need time to heal."

She nodded her head and said,

"You know that if you need anything, you need only ask."

I looked at her beautiful face and saw complete understanding, acceptance, and love. It made me smile despite my present gloom. I answered,

"I know, I need some time to myself. I won't be gone long I promise."

She again nodded her head and said,

"I love you."

I replied,

"Love you too Wise Girl."

With that I closed my eyes, flying didn't really appeal to me right now so I just transported myself to where I always go when I need to think.

I opened my eyes to a familiar sight, a statue of a sandy haired man, a baby girl being held in his arms, and a middle aged woman wearing a warm smile, my family.

Memorial Park, the city sized place on Genesis where all the honored dead could be remembered. I had created this park a few weeks after joining Chaos. It started as a simple statue to remember my family by, but now it had grown to honor the death of every person on Genesis or a loved one.

This statue stood in the center of the circular park and was surrounded by similar statues that appeared with a beloved's death. I half-smiled at the statue, looked at the woman and whispered,

"Mom."

Gods I missed her. Zeus took the first chance he had to explain that Hecate had been behind the murder of my family, not him. She had stolen some of his power while controlling him and had used my parent's death as a final blow to my spirit. Zeus said she called it her "parting gift", evil witch…

I spent some time there, thinking, praying to Chaos, and reflecting on everything that had transpired in my existence. I had won wars, slew giants, saved trillions, and become a beacon of hope to entire galaxies. But deep down, I sometimes felt like a little boy who just missed his mommy.

Turning from the statue I began to make my way down the pathway that snaked through various forms of memorials for countless souls who were long-gone. Most of them I didn't recognize, but every so often I would spot a familiar face, a general I mentored on a war-torn world, a servant I helped free from a dictator a few years ago. So many people who were forever represented by these statues of stone.

Time worked differently in Memorial Park, I had designed it that way. I wanted people to have as much time as they needed so I had manipulated the borders of this place to slow time for all those inside. You could spend months in here, walk out, and barely a minute would have passed. Seemed like a better use of time manipulation than something like the Lotus Casino.

After an unknown amount of time, not that it really mattered, I came to an open field gated in by ornate fencing. I wasn't familiar with this section so I stopped to look around. There was a slight hill covered in grass that held benches, a small pavilion, and a shrine to Chaos to pray at. Looking around at the statues here, my heart skipped a beat when I saw who they represented.

Nine young people, four male, five female. The statues were in various positions, a few sitting on a bench, a few others tossing a magically suspended football, and one was off by itself leaning up against a tree, smiling at the scene. My Angels, the ones who had perished in today's battle already had memorials. I stood next to each statue, thought about their story, and symbolically said goodbye to each one.

Eight down, I looked to the man leaning up against the tree, it was Arthur. I walked slowly to it and stopped in front of it. A single tear slid down my face as I said,

"I am so sorry I couldn't save you. I hope wherever you are, you're happy. I hope someday to see you again, wherever we go after death."

I knew it was silly, talking to a polished piece of stone, but saying the words aloud seemed to help. I felt a little better, like I was able to come to grips with their deaths. They knew the risks, leaving Genesis, they knew it might have been their last time, yet the still did it. They laid down their lives for others, and it was now my job to honor their sacrifice.

-Annabeth POV-

I was walking through the columns of my mother's temple, this had always been a place where the world seemed to disappear for a bit as I walked in the world of old wisdom. They say a small piece of Athena still exists in Athens, I had found that statement to be right in the dark years of my godhood.

Sitting down and looking down from the ancient acropolis onto the modern Athenian city, I thought about my mother. I thought about the contrast between the old world and the new. Since discovering that the romans existed, I had thought a lot about the difference in Greek and Roman gods. The change in personality, appearance, power, but what I thought most about was how awful it must have been for my mother to experience the fall of her beloved city.

I knew the Romans hadn't destroyed Athens, the Peloponnesian war had tarnished the glory of Athens infinitely more than Rome. But what was more depressing to me than the fall of the world's first democracy, was the effect being turned Roman had on my mother. Athena obviously knows nothing of it, but the few times I have seen Minerva, she always seems angry, resentful of Rome. She remains the only goddess still unwilling to move past the split in godly personalities.

Deep in thought, I failed to notice Percy had appeared right next to me. I jumped when he cleared his throat out of shock. He snickered and said,

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

I shook my head and replied,

"Don't apologize, I was thinking about my mother. How are you?"

He smiled slightly and replied,

"Better, I spent some time in the place that always seems to help."

Curious I asked,

"Where?"

He answered,

"I'll show you some day."

He didn't seem to notice how frustrated him not telling me made me. I knew it was childish, I honestly did want to know what made him feel better, but the daughter of Athena in me hated not knowing something. Deciding to let it go I took a hold of his hand and looked back onto the city.

After a few moments of silence he asked,

"Do you come here often?"

I shook my head and answered,

"Not anymore, I used to. It helped me think, plus I still get ideas from the ruins, I find it amazing that thousands of years have passed, yet people still design building based off of this one."

He nodded and looked around the back of the temple then said,

"There are actually buildings on Genesis made to look like this one. The main public forum in the capital is a larger version of the Parthenon. Public meetings, criminal hearings, debate, and ideas are discussed in it. Athena is probably Chaos's favorite Olympian.

I asked,

"Why?"

He replied,

"She stands for logic, knowledge, and most of all order, all things Chaos prizes above all. I find it ironic that he is called Chaos and his brother is Order, not the other way around."

I nodded, I had also thought of that before. After a few more seconds of silence he stood up, bringing me with him. He said,

"It's late, we should be going."

"Alright," I replied.

A moment later the Parthenon was once again empty.


End file.
